Christmas in July/win free cookbooks!

It's halfway around the calendar from Christmas, which means it's the season of lean times and empty shelves at food banks. My colleague Leslie Kelly, putting her money where her mouth is, is sponsoring a food drive for the University District Food Bank. I met with her and executive director Joe Gruber at the food bank to see how we could help. As you might expect in these days of flat wages and rising expenses, the need for donations is even sharper this year than it usually is during "Christmas in July." The food bank is serving 20 percent to 25 percent more people this year, distributing 30,000 to 35,000 pounds of food per week to its clients (about 10 percent seniors, 22 percent children, 60 percent adults with at least one part-time job). At the same time, in-kind donations from businesses have dropped 10 percent. "It... [read full story]