MARYSVILLE — Some changes are planned for the Marysville Community Food Bank after it conducted a survey of its recipients and others in the community.
The survey stemmed from the belief that the food bank wasn’t reaching as many people in need as it could.
“I still feel like we’re always going to continue to improve, because we’re always going to be learning about people we didn’t know about before,” said Dell Deierling, the food bank’s director.
The food bank received 309 responses, and revealed a few interesting perspectives.
For one, nearly 30 percent of the respondents said they did not have an adequate food supply at least five times in the past year. On top of that, 54 percent of respondents said they knew someone in the area who didn’t have enough healthy food to eat.
Another result was that, while 47 percent said they would feel comfortable using the food bank if they were facing a critical need, three-quarters of the respondents acknowledged there was a stigma attached to using the food bank.
Addressing the unmet needs of people coming to the food bank lent itself to one common-sense solution: increasing the number of allowed client visits from two to three times per month, starting last month.
“I estimate we’ll need another $10,000 in groceries and cash to buy groceries to support that,” Deierling said. “That’s the anxious part.”
Right now the food bank sees about 260 families per week, amounting to more than 750 people.
In 2015, the food bank gave out 450 tons of food to nearly 14,000 households. Deierling and two other staffers are paid part-time employees, and everything else is handled by volunteers who put in nearly 35,000 hours last year.
In addition to the usual canned and nonperishable foods, many gardeners donate fresh produce when it is in season.
Deierling acknowledged the precarious position that increased demand might put the food bank, but the bank’s board of directors encouraged him, he said, and the local community has always shown strong support.
He noted that at least 20 churches support the food bank, one church in Lynnwood recently gathered 7,000 pounds of food during one drive, and the Grocery Outlet collected another 6,000 pounds of food.
“It’s a good community for supporting, and I’m sure they’re going to be here for us once again,” Deierling said.
Reducing the stigma of using the food bank is another challenge entirely, he said, one that he doesn’t have a ready answer for. He said he can usually tell when someone calls the food bank for the first time, and he works to get past their reticence and welcome them.
“I’ll tell you what, I don’t know that I could do it,” he said. “When that person makes that call, all of a sudden I’m in their shoes.”
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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