AUBURN, Wash. — At the Nourish Food Bank, lines of people hoping to feed themselves and their families had started to build over the last couple of weeks.
This week, however, the need for food in Western Washington really started to show as the SNAP benefits that provide food for low-income people expired on Saturday, according to the manager of the Edgewater location, Julie Wiesen.
“Every day it’s more and more people,” Wiesman said, “more and more people who are upset and desperate and don’t know what they’re going to go. So this is where they go.”
She estimates a 30 percent increase in demand this week with as many as 40 more families each day coming in from the small suburb in North Pierce County.
“We also are facing donations that are down and we don’t have as much food as we normally do because we’re serving so many more people,” Wiesman said, “Food banks can only support so much.”
Even before the government shutdown that led to SNAP benefits lapsing, Nourish Food Bank leaders say they were struggling to keep up, especially after emergency food funding was reduced through the USDA.
Organizations like the Salvation Army hosted 20 emergency food drives across Puget Sound Saturday in order to keep up with the need. Salvation Army captain James Parks expects a surge in people needing help as the holidays approach.
“The need might double overnight,” Parks said, “We’re just not sure of what’s going to happen and how many families in our communities are going to suffer from this loss.”
Organizations like Nourish and Salvation Army hope people can donate cash, foods with a long shelf life, and time through the way of volunteering. Information on how to help each can be found at these links:
https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usa-western-territory/northwest/
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