Starting September 30, 2026, people who get their health insurance through Apple Health, Washington’s Medicaid program, started seeing changes to their coverage. Based on new parameters, some people may lose their insurance altogether, including people in the Upper Valley.

Rachel Oseguera learned that her health insurance had been canceled when she went to pick up a prescription.

Rachel has had Apple Health, Washington State’s Medicaid program that provides free health care for low-income individuals, for as long as she can remember. Although she’d received a couple letters from Apple Health before she discovered her insurance was cancelled, she said, “I didn’t really understand. I’ve had free insurance my whole life and this is so new.”

The first week of every month at the Community Cupboard is always busy, when households that shop at the food pantry get 150 points they can use toward food for the month. The first week of November, there’s an additional flurry of activity at the Cupboard, as staff and volunteers put out holiday food.

For Jerome Jerome IV, volunteering at the Monday night Upper Valley Free Clinic is one of the highlights of his week.

The 23-year-old began volunteering at the Free Clinic in February 2026. Jerome works as an EMT but was looking for other ways to gain experience as he explores the option of attending medical school.

The Upper Valley Free Clinic has been a cornerstone of the Upper Valley community for more than 25 years. It provides medical care to those who need it, regardless of ability to pay.

When Olga Akhrameeva and her husband Pavel Kuzmin first drove through Leavenworth, they had already traveled to several different countries and across the United States, looking for a place to live.

Read stories about MEND’s programs and the people we serve, plus updates from the past year.

For anyone who needs period supplies and is also struggling to make ends meet, sometimes the math is impossible. What do you do when you need pads or tampons and the money won’t stretch far enough to cover them, in addition to all your other expenses?

There are two reasons Das Thrift Manager Catalina Arellano thinks parents shop at the local thrift store for back-to-school clothing and supplies. One is convenience—for people who live in the Upper Valley, not having to head to Wenatchee to shop is a big advantage, especially for busy families.

The Community Cupboard has a couple of volunteers that are starting early on giving back to their community. Seneca (9) and Levi Devlin Effland (12) regularly volunteer at the Cupboard with their mom, Kristin Effland.

Upper Valley MEND’s rental program was created in December 2023, when our community raised $6.8 million to purchase 31 rental units from the Marson family. As with all of MEND’s housing options, they are priced to give people who work in the Upper Valley the opportunity to live in the community where they work.

Just shy of a year after breaking ground, Upper Valley MEND hosted a ribbon-cutting celebration at its newly-finished duplex in Leavenworth. The three-bedroom, 2.5-bath units will be sold to families who live and work in the Upper Valley.

A local woman who prefers to remain anonymous has been coming to the Community Cupboard food pantry for the last two years.  

“It has really offset my cost of living,” she says.

In July, Upper Valley MEND’s mobile produce pantry will begin its season. The mobile pantry takes fruits and vegetables obtained to local migrant camps and other locations.

MEND Gleaning Coordinator Orlando Pacheco Vazquez is a farmer at heart. This year he started a micro farm with his dad—a one-acre plot of land with at least a dozen crops on it, including multiple varieties of tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and kale, plus corn, beans and squash.

According to Grant Gibbs himself, he’s a stubborn man. According to others who know him, he’s also an interesting character, a talker, and a cornerstone of the local farming community. He is a fierce supporter of the Community Cupboard, regularly donating produce through the gleaning program.

Kelsey first lived in Leavenworth when she was in her twenties. At that time, her aunt told her about the Community Cupboard food pantry. “[Shopping at the Cupboard when you need to] is how you make it here,” she told her.

In the wake of the devastating winter storm that hit the Upper Valley in mid December, a group of local people reached out to Upper Valley MEND. They wanted to create a match campaign for victims of the storm, in the hopes it would encourage others to donate as well.

Mady Kornegay and her coworkers work long hours, and many hang out together when they’re not working, too. Mady attributes that to many of them having the same values—including valuing community. That shared value is what led to her team donating food and goods to the Community Cupboard at the end of February.

In honor of Earth Day this month, Upper Valley MEND is highlighting all the ways our community helps reduce waste through MEND’s programs.