After two years, summer meals return to Vashon parks

Picnics in the Park includes lunch and volunteer-led activities, which have previously included face painting, crafts, and more.

By Jenna Dennison • May 25, 2022 1:30 am
(Courtesy Vashon Maury Community Food Bank) Picnics in the Park will return to Ober Park and the BARC after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Courtesy Vashon Maury Community Food Bank) Picnics in the Park will return to Ober Park and the BARC after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vashon Food Bank’s much-loved and community-funded Picnics in the Park summer meals program is returning to Vashon parks this year.

Picnics in the Park, which has been in operation since 2014, will return with lunch service and activities which have included face painting, crafts, and more in previous years. The program will be hosted in both Ober Park and the Burton Area Recreation Center (BARC). In addition to the program, the food bank will provide meals for other youth camps and programs, such as Vashon Park District’s new Squash Camp.

This year, lunches will be served, Monday to Friday, from Tuesday, June 21 through Friday, Aug. 26 in Ober Park from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., followed by volunteer-led activities, and at BARC from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Prior to the pandemic, Picnics in the Park served an average of 110 youth each day. Services nearly doubled in 2020-2021, serving an average of 204 youth and adults per day.

The program responded and shifted during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 by partnering with the Vashon Island School District (VISD) to prepare meals in the VHS kitchen and offer on-site pick-up as well as remote drop-off at 12 locations served by a school bus.

“Our goal in bringing Picnics back to the parks is to make sure our island youth are food-secure over the summer while recreating the safe, welcoming and inclusive community gathering that the program has offered since 2014,” said Emily Scott, executive director of the Vashon Maury Community Food Bank, in an email.

Vashon’s Picnics in the Park program is also entirely funded by the community, in contrast to many other communities that have state or federally funded summer meal programs. Due to the support from businesses and individual contributions, the Vashon Food Bank is able to tailor its program to specifically fit the island’s needs.

The Vashon Food Bank is also currently hiring a program manager and two Americorps VISTA Associates for Picnics in the Park.

Find the full job descriptions at vashonfoodbank.org/employment.

If any community members have ideas about activities for Picnics in the Park and would like to volunteer, they can contact the food bank’s volunteer program manager by emailing volmanager@vashonfoodbank.org.