Our Mission

The local Ministerial Association launched a cooperative effort to start a community food bank.

Eight churches gave support and volunteers to staff the food bank one morning a week in a room provided by the Community United Methodist Church. Due to increasing demand for food bank services and a desire to meet additional needs in the community, this effort was eventually expanded to include a thrift store and moved to a new location provided by the City of Leavenworth. This new location became known as the Community Cupboard.

The Ministerial Association decided they needed to hire part-time staff to carry out the expanded vision of the Community Cupboard. Upper Valley MEND was formally incorporated under the laws of Washington State in 1988.

Upper Valley MEND has since grown to meet additional community needs, such as housing, healthcare and financial assistance services.

Upper Valley MEND’s Board of Directors made a commitment and investment to address the need for affordable housing in the area. Various options were explored, and in 1998 a local orchardist offered Upper Valley MEND the option to purchase 15 acres of land suitable for development within the urban growth boundary of the City of Leavenworth. The Board established a Community Land Trust as a way to make homeownership possible for low- to moderate-income families.

This effort became known as the SHARE (Securing Homes on Affordable Real Estate) Community Land Trust. SHARE uses the Community Land Trust model to provide and secure affordable housing in the greater Leavenworth area. There are currently two SHARE neighborhoods with 10 homes each in Leavenworth: Alpine Heights and Aldea Village.

Upper Valley MEND partnered with Cascade Medical Center to take over administering the Upper Valley Free Clinic. The Free Clinic was started in 2000 by Faith Lutheran Church members Karen Strom, Laurie Peek and Dr. Karl Kranz to support the medical needs of migrant workers in the Upper Wenatchee Valley.
The Free Clinic now provides free medical care, free dental consultations and referral services to residents of the Upper Valley who do not have medical insurance or cannot afford their copays. It is powered entirely by volunteer doctors, physicians assistants, nurses, clerical staff and interpreters. The Free Clinic serves hundreds of people each year.

Upper Valley MEND helped several local families realize their dream of independent living for their children with developmental disabilities by building the Cornerstone Community Adult Family Home. Upon completion, Cornerstone was turned over to an independent board, although Upper Valley MEND retains oversight and two seats on the Cornerstone Board. Cornerstone is now a loving home and gathering place for six adults with developmental disabilities whose needs are met with dignity every day.

Also in 2011, Leavenworth residents John and Mary Schramm gifted their store Jubilee Global Gifts to Upper Valley MEND. The Schramms had founded the store in 1995 to help alleviate poverty after seeing first-hand the needs of people, especially women, while travelling in Africa and Central America. Jubilee provides a variety of Fair Trade merchandise, helping more artisans around the world and providing more support for MEND programs within the Upper Valley and Cashmere communities.

Upper Valley MEND took over running an existing Wenatchee Valley gleaning program and our gleaning program was born. Gleaning is the act of harvesting excess or unmarketable produce, bringing nutritious fresh food to Community Cupboard shoppers and reducing food waste. Each year, volunteers glean tens of thousands of pounds of fresh produce from local orchards and farms and distribute it among food banks in Chelan and Douglas counties.

The thrift store, formerly housed at the Community Cupboard, moved into its own space and became Das Thrift. Das Thrift offers quality used clothing and household goods. Proceeds from sales support food purchasing for the Community Cupboard.

In 2020, Upper Valley MEND hired a full-time social worker to implement a holistic approach to help people in crisis. Many people in need first engage with Upper Valley MEND at the Community Cupboard food pantry. But they are often dealing with other underlying struggles, like housing insecurity, health issues, or lack of reliable transportation. Some of those underlying struggles are harder to solve. Our social worker is available to walk with them through their crisis, connect them with longer-term services available in the Wenatchee Valley, and determine whether MEND can help them through its own financial assistance program.

Upper Valley MEND sold the 26‐acre property between Titus Road and Chumstick Highway to Weidner Apartment Homes. Selling the property allowed Upper Valley MEND to grow the community’s affordable housing portfolio so that more members of the Upper Valley’s workforce have the opportunity to live where they work.

2023 saw the kick off of the Solid Foundations Campaign for affordable housing. The proceeds from this campaign—as well as the sale of the Meadowlark property—allowed MEND to purchase 31 apartments to be managed as an affordable workforce housing program going forward.

As MEND’s other programs have grown, we recognized the need to focus on the core mission of meeting each need with dignity in the Upper Valley. This led to the difficult decision to sell Jubilee to community members who continue to prioritize its community-centered and fair trade roots. Read more.

MEND decided to expand its affordable housing offerings in 2025 by building a duplex that would become part of its homeownership program. Read more.