Fairbanks teen Nick Prayner had a simple question last year: How could he bake bread to donate to the local food bank?
"I just wanted to do something to help the community," he said.
The answer, it turns out, was a little more complicated than he expected. But after asking a few questions and working with local agencies, the Fairbanks Community Food Bank is bursting with fresh-baked bread from the community.
Kim Prayner, Nick's mom, collected over 700 loaves of fresh-baked bread from Fairbanks schools this week. Each family receiving assistance from the food bank gets one loaf.
The idea for the bread drive came a year after the family collected more than 1,000 pounds of regular food for the food bank in 2013. Nick wanted to keep doing more, so last year he and his mom decided he was going to try to bring the King Arthur Flour bread baking program to Fairbanks schools. The program donates flour and teaches school-aged children how to bake bread that can then be donated to local organizations.
But Nick Prayner ran into a problem with donations. Anne Weaver, executive director of the food bank, told him that if bread isn't baked in a commercial kitchen, it couldn't be accepted.
"I told him we aren't allowed to," she said. "But that's a terrible answer."
Prayner, then 12, and his mom, agreed. So he pressed the food bank and surprisingly, found a change was possible.
The Fairbanks Community Food Bank, with the help of Alaska Rep. Tammie Wilson, a North Pole Republican, worked with the Department of Environmental Conservation to get an exception to the state's food code.
That variance allowed the food bank to accept over 2,000 loaves of bread last year, according to Weaver. It was enough for every family who requested Thanksgiving food assistance to get a loaf of home-baked bread.
"It was pretty staggering," she said.
According to Lorinda Lhotka, DEC environmental program manager, the exceptions allow organizations to come in to compliance with the spirit of the law even if it's not followed exactly. Lhotka said most variances are applied to mobile food vendors, when space issues can mean having to adjust things like sinks and countertop space needed.
Food banks are only allowed to accept food from "approved sources." Home kitchens aren't one of them. The idea is that bread baked in commercial kitchens have a chain of custody that can be followed in the case of illness.
Lhotka said the Fairbanks variance was made less complicated because bread doesn't easily spoil and therefore is lower risk. The biggest concern is allergies.
So to deal with those, the food bank requires that people write a list of all their ingredients. They also include a list of when and where the bread was baked and a way to get in touch in case someone gets sick.
Despite the added bureaucratic steps, Weaver said it's been easy to incorporate it in to the food bank's store.
Weaver said the donations have broadened the array of breads available to the food bank. People have given everything from rolls to gluten-free bread, elaborately braided loaves and classic square bread-machine loaves with holes in the bottom. Weaver said since they began the program, everyone from schools to offices has brought in bread.
Lhotka said other food banks haven't applied to DEC for similar help yet. But after working with Fairbanks, it's something that could be implemented easily.
"If any other food banks are interested in that, we have a good model now," she said. "It's hard for us to change our regulations, but we can work case by case."
The Prayners are a military family and aren't sure if they'll be in Fairbanks next year. But Nick Prayner hopes the program has a lasting impact.
"We're hoping the bread project keeps going with the community," he said. "Even if we're not here."