Those chilly economic winds of recent months are brewing into a perfect storm for area food banks.
Rising prices mean food dollars don’t go as far. Higher fuel prices raise distribution costs. And uncertainty about the future has more people putting off charitable giving.
“Donations are down, and the number of people who need our help is rapidly increasing,” said Linda Nageotte, president of Food Lifeline, whose warehouses supply food banks in Western Washington.
Food banks are only meant to supplement families’ nutritional needs, helping their resources go a little further each month. Food bank clients are still expected to use cash or food stamps to buy most of their own groceries. But recently, Nageotte said, some families are running out of food less than halfway through the month. “Food prices at stores are going up, so the people that we serve, they’re hurting,” she said.
The situation isn’t yet dire for food banks served by Everett-based Volunteers of American Western Washington, but that could change quickly, said Bill Humphries, who oversees food bank operations for VOA. He noted that the agency’s fuel costs, like everyone’s, have skyrocketed. And Food Lifeline’s supply shortages are bound to be felt here eventually.
No one feels the pinch of rising prices more than families who were already fighting to keep their heads above water. For them, basic nutrition can become a discretionary expense. As schools close for the summer, access to subsidized meals for many children disappears, making things even worse.
Nageotte’s message is simple: “If an individual or a business out there has the capacity to give, now is the time.”
One effective way is to donate non-perishable food on Saturday to the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive, sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers. Snohomish County has been one of the most generous in the nation in recent letter carrier drives, Humphries said, and a similar outpouring this year will have a huge, positive impact on area foodbanks. Watch for a bag to be delivered by your mail carrier later this week. Make a point of filling it and leaving it at the mailbox Saturday.
Of course, cash donations help the most, allowing food banks to buy in bulk. “Give us a dollar and we can turn it into five meals,” Nageotte said.
Meals that, these days, more of our neighbors are at risk of going without.
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