New Chapter for Spokane Valley Partners

By Ashley Humbird Current contributor

Spokane Valley Partners will soon be moving to a location at the site of the Spokane Valley’s Ziggy’s Home Improvement Center. The move comes after years of hard work and assessing the growing need in the community.

Cal Coblentz has been with Spokane Valley Partners as CEO after years of working in both the private and non-profit sector. The current building that houses the Spokane Valley Partners on Broadway near Broadway Elementary School began as a Nazarene Church. The church was sold to the non-profit in 2002 and has been a great central location.

Before Spokane Valley Partners became the organization it is today, it was a partnership between local Valley churches. It began after WWII when people needed additional help and a network of various churches across the Valley came together to help meet the needs including a food bank, clothing bank, and emergency funding. The network included over ten churches of different faiths. “The churches came together and worked together. It became such a big endeavor that in 1989 the committee of the grass roots effort to provide resources, came together and agreed that it was in the communities best interest to found a non-profit to support the movement.”

In April of 1990 the Spokane Valley Partners 501c3 non-profit was founded.

The churches that were originally part of the grass roots movement continue to play a large part in the organization today. From hosting food bank drives to donating money to the non-profit local churches of all different faiths support the needs in the community. “We’re not faith based, but we are faith inspired.” Cal shares that many of the volunteers that help at the non-profit come from the local valley churches.

The current building has a 30,000 square footprint and over the last couple of years Spokane Valley Partners has out grown it. The building houses not just the Spokane Valley Partners non-profit and the services they provide, but tenants as well. SNAP has a large office in that is open during the week and the Catholic Charities, that provide housing assistance to homeless people and their families, has a large office upstairs. At one time the Arc of Spokane had the lower-level office, but the space has become needed for the operation of the different programs Spokane Valley Partners provide.

The programs that Spokane Valley Partners oversee include one of the areas largest food pantries, a clothing bank, diaper bank, emergency assistance, food for thought school program, a homeless outreach, and a mobile food bank.

Cal joined the Spokane Valleys Partners in 2017 after retiring from a career in the United States Armed Forces. After a short retirement, Cal served as a pastor for 5 years while working towards getting his Master’s Degree in Divinity. He had moved to Texas and had been offered a job in a mega-church when he and his wife discovered the need of helping children that had turned 18 and aged out of the foster care program. The family moved back to Spokane and after working at various jobs, Cal applied for the position at Spokane Valley Partners and hasn’t looked back since.

“I want to create legacy in the community and leave something that is impactful,” Cal explains about his desire to move into the nonprofit sector. “It makes you want to rally people around a cause. Here it’s preventing hunger and poverty. Our mission is really two things: providing resources for people in dire need and connecting them to resources that we don’t have.”

Spokane Valley Partners has its roots in its namesake, but has spread to the great Spokane County and beyond. They are the largest food pantry in the area, largest diaper network in the Inland Northwest, and one of the largest clothing banks. They have an active homeless outreach program that includes a commissioned police officer when needed.

The Inland Northwest Diaper Bank is in eight counties currently with plans to increase to twelve by the end of this year. With one in three babies in the United States are living below the poverty line, the program provides need in the community. The goal is to plant diaper banks in even more rural areas over the coming years and help the communities run the program as they need. Some of the counties that the diaper bank currently serves include Spokane, Lincoln, Adams, Stevens, Pend Oreille, and Whitman county.

In addition to the active diaper bank, a mobile food bank visits outlying areas in Spokane County. In 2022, 1.6 million pounds of food were distributed to families the Spokane Valley Partners support. In the past, the food bank was only open on select days of the week, but with need increasing, the bank has moved to a “don’t say no to food” philosophy. The bank is open five days a week to be able to better support to working families. There are no set requirements to receive food. If someone comes in and asks for food assistance, they will be helped.

“In the past, our services were split into thirds. A third of our clients where minors under 18, a third where seniors, and a third were working class families that just needed a little extra help,” Cal describes that the current crisis is not solely affecting those like in the past. “Based on out observations and the new people we are signing up and who are asking for help, it’s the working class that has increased to about half of the clients we serve now.”

With the increase of need in the post-pandemic era, a new building was needed to accommodate the additional resources. Cal began conversations with the former Mayor of Spokane Valley Ben Wick about the process of acquiring a new location. Cal continued the conversation with the current Mayor of Spokane Valley Pam Haley and when the COVID CARES package was granted to Spokane Valley, a vote was passed by the city council to allocate funds to Spokane Valley Partners for them to be able to relocate to a larger facility.

Cal envisions a location that has a “wrap-around” all-serving resource center. In additional to the new location housing Spokane Valley Partners and their programs, they will bring in additional tenants that can offer resources not provided by Spokane Valley Partners.

Homelessness is a rising crisis across our nation. Homeless individuals often lack access to necessities such as food, shelter, and medical care. Providing these basic needs can help ensure their survival and well-being. Aiding homeless individuals can help address the