‘Feels good to do good’: SNAP Sundays grow into a valley-wide musical lifeline

WENATCHEE — What began as a simple Facebook post has quickly turned into one of the region’s most collaborative grassroots efforts to support families facing food insecurity. SNAP Sundays — a series of benefit concerts organized by well-known Wenatchee Valley musician Seth Garrido — started as an immediate response to the recent federal SNAP benefit shutdown. Even now that benefits have been restored on paper, Garrido says the need on the ground hasn’t eased.

He said it was “less a reaction to any direct observation than it was a realization that SNAP benefits being suspended would clearly mean more folks will be needing help from our local food banks.” The idea took root after a conversation with his partner, Anna, who suggested they bring groceries to Leavenworth’s Community Cupboard. “The tangible relief and gratitude from the staff there when we brought a relatively modest load of food in was remarkable… Seeing that reaction first hand, it was impossible not to feel how earnestly help is needed.”

Since then, SNAP Sundays have become both a musical showcase and a community safety net. Garrido said organizations including Upper Valley MEND and the Chelan Douglas Community Action Council report “the need in the Valley is at the highest point it's been in years,” with any food, funds, or volunteer time “swiftly utilized” and quickly creating “new voids to fill.”

What surprised Garrido most wasn’t the level of need — it was how quickly local musicians stepped forward. “Every, I repeat, EVERY musician in this valley, as soon as they heard about the effort, immediately offered their time, equipment, money, and anything else that they could,” he said. “It was heartening, and honestly… not remotely surprising.”

SNAP Sundays were never intended to become a concert series, Garrido said, but momentum took over almost instantly. “The response was so strong and immediate and generous… I was confident we'd get some good work done very easily… Many hands were immediately available to lighten every aspect, and its growth was the natural product.”

The need, he emphasizes, predates the SNAP shutdown and will outlast it. “We are surrounded at all times by folks whose circumstances leave them unable to be confident that their basic needs will be met,” Garrido said. The crisis is ongoing, but so is the community’s capacity to respond. “What steels my worried soul is seeing how freely folks have been willing to drop in their hats at the merest suggestion. The goal now is to keep all of those hats in the proverbial ring without that provocation.”

For Garrido, performing at the benefit shows adds a different kind of charge. “A concerted effort for a defined good definitely gives me a bit of a battle-style boost,” he said. “There's a ‘once more into the breach’ that might be harder to access on any other given music night. Feels good to do good.”

He doesn’t point to a single defining moment from the series so far, but to an atmosphere — “a long stream of just beautiful feelings and music and warmth and the joy that innately is built into folks getting together to help one another. It's an easily accessible warm blanket.”

From Watercore Cider to the Snowy Owl: SNAP Sundays in action

SNAP Sundays took another step forward on November 30, when the benefit concert was held at Watercore Cider in downtown Wenatchee. The evening featured local acts including Damon Lowell, Erin McNamee, Gavin McLaughlin (with Jeremy Rivas on drums and Garrido on sax), The Lounge Kings, and Umami Dearest. Watercore owner Sarah Lindell donated the space for the night, and the event netted substantial food and monetary donations for local families. The lineup of familiar faces and new voices reaffirmed what Garrido already knew — the valley’s music community was ready, willing, and eager to help.

That night at Watercore showed SNAP Sundays working exactly how it was meant to: A welcoming place, good music, and the space for generosity to flow naturally.

A glimpse of how music, generosity, and community converge

Last week at the Icicle Creek Center for the Arts’ Snowy Owl Theater, something similar unfolded during a performance by Garrido’s duo and other acts under the Singer, Songwriter, Storyteller series. Though not branded a SNAP Sunday, the evening embodied the same exact values — storytelling, closeness, and opportunity for action.

While introducing his song “Everything’s Fine,” Garrido told the crowd, “You don’t even really have to squint that hard to see that things are actually pretty great.” The spirit of giving followed. During intermission, organizer Dennis Broughton stepped to the mic with a grin: “The food drive has been amazing tonight — you’ve filled my wife’s car, and it’s completely packed. She may not have a way to get home, though.”

For some of the artists, the act of performing has become inseparable from the act of giving. Meghan of Flowers for Wolves described the meaning behind the band’s name: A moment when plans fall apart, but beauty reveals itself anyway. “If you can look around and catch your breath,” she said, “you can see the beautiful message you weren’t paying attention to because you were too focused on what you didn’t get rather than what was right in front of your face.”

Later, Sarah of Fox and Bones described performing itself as a form of connection. “Sharing music with you… spreading love, spreading joy, spreading kindness… that’s the only thing I really want to be doing,” she said. “This is what makes it all worth it.”

The Singer, Songwriter, Storyteller series continues throughout the winter and into the summer at Icicle Creek’s Snowy Owl Theater, where upcoming dates are posted at icicle.org.

The quiet engine behind the effort

Behind the scenes, Garrido expected logistical headaches, but instead found the work almost effortless. He credits the organizational lift to graphic designer and coordinator Erika Hernandez, along with participating musicians and venues. “It was smooth sailing almost 100% completely,” he said. “I'd like to say something was difficult and that my effort here was gargantuan, but it really was like tossing a handful of feathers into the wind.”

That ease was echoed again at the Snowy Owl. Artists spoke repeatedly about trust — in each other, in the audience, and in the people who keep the shows afloat. Sarah of Fox and Bones put it this way: “We trust Dennis with everything to do with events and music. They’re wonderful people and patrons of the arts. I cannot express how important that is right now. It’s very hard to be an artist.”

In Garrido’s view, that same trust is what makes SNAP Sundays work. When artists feel held, they give. When audiences feel connected, they give. And when giving becomes as natural as singing along, the valley’s safety net grows stronger.

As for why he intends to keep going, Garrido returns to the simplicity that started it all: “The need persists, and our hands still work. That's enough.”

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media