Published November 2002

Need for food bank services ‘urgent,’ official says

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

In Snohomish County, hunger is an issue that’s not going away, said Virginia Sprague, program director of the Snohomish County Food Bank Distribution Center, a program of Volunteers of America Western Washington.

Last year, the Snohomish County Food Bank Coalition, a group of 20 community food banks that is served by the distribution center, came to the aid of 406,775 individual requests for food, Sprague said. This year, that number has jumped to 420,208, an increase of 13,433.

And those requests are coming from the working as well as the unemployed.

Citing a recent study released by America’s Second Harvest food network, the Food Distribution Center noted that employment wages are the primary source of income for more than 40 percent of food bank clients in Western Washington.

JoAnn Mulligan, director of the Marysville Community Food Bank, has seen that reality firsthand. Two years ago, the food bank began a program for employed clients — those in the work force struggling to make ends meet.

“The employed clients are probably making minimum wage and have other bills to pay such as housing, utilities, clothing,” Mulligan said. “The rents around here are pretty high, and with kids in school, trying to dress them and all the rest ...”

Until recently, about 20 of the food bank’s employed clients would arrive on Saturday mornings to pick up food. But in the past couple of months, with the economy still lethargic, that number has grown to 60, Mulligan said.

And the Everett Food Bank recently extended its service hours to enable the working poor to access the food bank during the noon hour, according to the Food Bank Distribution Center.

Along with working clients, food banks in the region also find need among the retired, disabled or those receiving Social Security, with 35 percent of their clientele among that group, according to the “Hunger in America 2001” study.

“The need for food bank services is not only increasing but has become more urgent in Snohomish County,” Sprague said, adding that businesses can help to meet that need.

“The most important thing businesses can do is host a food drive,” she said. “If businesses or individuals would like to make a monetary donation, my buying power is tremendous in comparison.”

For more information, call 425-259-3192, send e-mail to vsprague@voaww.org or visit online at www.voaww.org.

RELATED: Marysville center serves hundreds each week

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