In late March, Northwest Youth Services’ new Engagement Vehicle will begin outreach routes using a substantive meal as an invitation for community members to access needed resources.
The food truck will be carrying first aid supplies, naloxone, winter coats, sleeping bags, tents and access to community resources offered by NWYS.
The truck is NWYS’s first all-ages outreach project, but youth ages 13-25 will have the chance to work as cooks and outreach providers. The route will start in the Meridian area and travel to encampments, parks and wherever there is need.
NWYS Outreach Programs Manager Liam Reed, leader of this project, wanted to create something that helps change the social services field — taking donated food that might go to waste and repurposing it.
Reed said he hopes the food truck will feel less like a soup kitchen and more like a place where people can come “sit down, meet their neighbors, whether they live in a house or not, and get some food that would have gone to waste, that’s been repurposed and tastes good.”
Outside the truck, Reed plans to have microwaves, can openers and utensils for anyone who may need it. He hopes that the Engagement Vehicle will inspire people to “vote differently and advocate for bigger change in the community,” and empower and equip youth to become the next generation of social workers.
NWYS will be working with Sustainable Connections, which partners with hotels, the co-op and restaurants to prevent food waste.
Reed has done outreach work before, building connections with those in need with kind words, and a backpack of water and supplies. He got involved in the Engagement Vehicle project by pitching it himself while creating his degree in Fairhaven College. He considers this project to be a significant upgrade to his backpack outreach, but with more resources and staff.
The Engagement Vehicle currently has about a year’s worth of funding, but Reed aims to continue growing the project. Funding is made possible primarily by community and outreach grants, but also by community funding such as NWYS’s Love Warrior initiative.
The initiative’s broad goal is to end youth and young adult homelessness through community support.
The program gives the organization a way to sustain their infrastructure, but also to “allocate dollars back into the hands of the young people who need and deserve it,” said Jason McGill, NWYS executive director.
Local businesses, such as Mallard Ice Cream, The Blue Room, Makeworth Coffee Roasters and more are also participating in the program by giving discounts to community members in the Love Warriors program.
More details about the program and participating businesses can be found at nwys.org/monthlydonor.
