HEALTHY & SUSTAINABLE FOOD PROGRAM
The Wave Food Program began before the pandemic with the idea that every business and every person can make a meaningful effort to promote sustainability in agriculture and the food industry, and to ensure safe and fair working conditions, and careful stewardship of ecosystems.
The impacts that COVID-19 has had on our partners, our food systems and our communities have only emboldened our resolve that the ideals we began with, in a regional community food system, are the path forward. Our food program looks differently than it did pre-pandemic, and that's the way it should be. We learned where our system fails and have found a way to shift to more equitable and resilient regional food systems.
The Wave Food Program increases regional food recovery, gets people back to work, feeds the food insecure, and shifts to more resilient community food systems.
The program is inclusive of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, from sourcing, to access to healthy and sustainable food.
Food Program Support
GoFundMe
Our current drive is to raise $1,000,000. At the center of our Food Program are partnerships led by Indigenous communities to restructure the food supply chain guided by the imperative for food that is regional, nutritious, culturally appropriate—and distributed equitably. We listen to the First peoples of this land, whose focus has forever been on sustainability and stewardship. Our ultimate goal is to help establish community based and community driven food systems that allow communities to move towards food sovereignty.
See How We're Creating Change
In the past year, The Wave Foundation Food Program shifted to address the immediate food insecurity needs that have increased as a result of the pandemic. We provide healthy and sustainable food options while moving towards a more resilient and regional food system that can support additional economic marketplaces for the Tribal Nation communities and fishers as the pandemic and its limitations dissipate.
The Wave Foundation partners with experts all along the food system to ensure healthy and sustainable food gets to people who need it.
Food & Help
Where It's Needed
As abundant as healthy and sustainable food might be in one area, another area is void. We utilize our food truck network via a partnership with Food Fleet to reach food desert communities and areas in crisis.
The local restaurants and public venues in cities across the nation have been hard-hit by the pandemic - an estimated 80% of restaurants could close. The survival of restaurants is instrumental to the vitality of our Main Streets and to keep our food systems viable. We use expertise, prepping, and other food service from these venues as much as we can.
Where & Who
We Serve
We began in the Pacific Northwest, but we don't stop at our regional boundaries. Our food program can serve in any city or town in the US and procure from that region. We use Tribal event and community centers, public venues, and other landmarks as our hubs for processing and distribution. We ask ourselves, "who is left behind?" in who we seek to serve. Too often, that means our Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities.
Farms, Fishers, Ranchers, Co-ops
The Wave sources from regional farms, fisheries, ranches, and other agricultural businesses, no matter where we serve. We are dedicated to paying fairly to keep farmers harvesting, fish-harvesters on the water and waterfronts working and healthy, ranchers raising healthy livestock and other agricultural businesses economically viable.
The Wave benefits from a partnership with both Alaskans Own and Catch Together to procure clean and sustainable fish and support its workforce, whose customer base largely disappeared with the closure of restaurants.
Food with Dignity
The Wave food boxes provide healthy, nutritious, regional food to the community. The boxes include produce, grains, seafood, and other proteins in nutritionally balanced proportions with respect to cultural relevance. We include sourcing information and recipe suggestions from local chefs to assist families in meal prep and learning about ingredients they may not be familiar with.
