Foundation to Build Upon

Prior to the pandemic, Murrey's Disposal provided the Bonney Lake Food Bank with free garbage service for the better part of a decade. If you've ever visited a food bank, you know how generous this was. In addition, they are primary sponsors and facilitators of the Annual Mayor's Food Drive, this year bringing in more than 29,000 lbs. of food. But it's their ability to create instant infrastructure for us that I want to tell you about today.  

Fast forward to the pandemic. I was 5 days on the job when I met Gordy of Murrey's and was virtually introduced to District Manager Josh Metcalf. Just 5 days later, COVID-19 hit Washington State and everything changed. By April of 2020 we started to see supply chain issues emerge, just as the numbers in need surged beyond what could have ever been anticipated. Overnight the food bank became a crisis triage. At that time, our most glaring issue was capacity. With only 800 square feet of space we were not prepared as an organization to manage what we knew was inevitable. Without money to rent storage we reached out to Murrey's for help. And they answered. The BLFB was able to scale to 700% its original size because of the 20 foot metal construction containers made readily available by Josh and his team, up to 15 units at a time. Rent free!

Their ability to rapid response storage for me on sometimes a weekly basis, for over a year's time frame is one of those things that just doesn't happen. It's beyond partnership. It's a commitment to a community in crisis. 

I can't tell you how overwhelmingly meaningful this was and critical to our success. Our ability to grow tremendously set us apart from many organizations that did not have this level of partnership. With this growth, we instantly had a voice at the table of food security in our county. And with this voice we opted to move the narrative of food security and change things about the system itself. These are all interconnected. They were all dependent upon each other. And when you track this back to the beginning, it started with the ability to scale. 

Thank you Murrey's for your continued commitment to our success. It was an incredible moment to have leadership visit The Market and see what you helped us become. This project has many business partners, but I will always consider Murrey's our first. 

- Stacey