We're harvesting tomatoes
carrots,
beets.
Those are just some of the produce
that we'll be delivering to the food bank.
As my mom worked and raised her kids,
she also volunteered
at the Asian Counseling and Referral Services.
She developed a relationship with Karen,
who is their food bank manager.
They are big, nice bok choy.
Peppers we have a lot.
Plums, just refill this if it gets empty.
I think we're ready.
And then she would bring in
these boxes or two to show Karen.
Hey, this is what I can grow for the food bank.
She grew the vegetables
that the client's were more accustomed to seeing.
That's how relationship has grown over 30 years.
Local produce.
It's fresh.
It's a variety.
It's more nutritious
than if it's traveled across the country or across the world.
And they can make what they want to with it
because it's a whole food.
It's not already prepared in a way
they don't like or know what it is.
The ACRS Food Bank
is located in the heart
of Chinatown International District.
We’re serving over five thousand clients per year,
ninety plus percent of our clientele are seniors.
I believe without this service,
it would be challenging to thrive in this neighborhood,
with the cost of living going up.
We've had this relationship
with Lee Farm for quite some time now,
and they were generous enough to to donate produce for us
for the longest time without asking anything
and just knowing the need in the community.
And ACRS was able to then get into a position
where we were able to purchase from them.
So it was - it was just a win-win situation.
My parents are still in the business
and they're still on the farm.
But, you know, farming is very - physically, it's very demanding.
All the kids have slowly helped them along the way.
And my husband and I have been working on the farm more,
and that's how we're here.
I'm very happy that somebody in the family
want to keep the tradition of farming continuing.
We see that there's a great need
in just the community that we live in
and in the Puget Sound.
And we like to serve the community.
It's just kind of the face-to-face contact.
We like that more than anything.
That's what keeps us going
is just the feedback from the community.