The Everett Food Bank says that it will run out of food in less than two weeks and is asking for donations of cash and nonperishable food to help restock its shelves.
One of the reasons for the shortage is a drop in donations this year to the Letter Carriers Food Drive, Snohomish County’s single biggest food drive of the year.
That meant food banks throughout Snohomish County had about 33,000 fewer pounds of food to distribute to hungry seniors, children and adults, said Sharon Paskewitz, director of basic needs services for Volunteers of America.
If this year’s donations from that food drive had matched last year’s donations, the Everett Food Bank would have gotten an estimated 9,200 more pounds of food, she said.
The Everett Food Bank at 1230 Broadway feeds about 2,700 people a month. It is one of 20 food banks in the Snohomish County Food Bank Coalition, which coordinates the food supplies to these organizations.
Usually, the Everett Food Bank’s stocks begin to thin around the second week of September, Paskewitz said. But that’s the time that schools and other organizations begin kicking off their food drives, helping restock its shelves.
The Everett Food Bank’s services, like those of all area food banks, “pretty much live on the community food drives that take place throughout the year,” said Phil Smith, a Volunteers of America vice president. The Everett Food Bank is a program of Volunteers of America.
Usually, spring food drives “carry us through into the fall,” he said. “Unfortunately this year, that’s not the case.”
By the third week of August the organization estimates “the cupboards would be bare,” Smith said.
“We need to get the message out to the community that we need food in the food bank,” he added.
Other area food banks said they could use specific kinds of donations, but weren’t facing the severe shortage being reported at the Everett Food Bank.
The Lynnwood Food Bank “is getting by” with food supplies, but could use donations of personal hygiene items such as soap, shampoo and laundry soap, said Peg Amarok, administrative director.
The Salvation Army expects to hit its next tight spot in food donations in late September or early October, said Dana Libby, who, with his wife, runs the organization’s Snohomish County chapter.
“That’s when we have to spend cash to purchase food if food supplies don’t come in,” Libby said.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@ heraldnet.com.
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