TACOMA, Wash. — A Pierce County food bank is gearing up to host its second food drive since SNAP benefits were disrupted due to the ongoing government shutdown.
The event will be held at the Tacoma Dome at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, though many will likely start lining up earlier to beat the long lines.
Last week, hundreds of families gathered at the Tacoma Dome for the emergency food distribution event, hosted by Eloise’s Cooking Pot Food Bank as part of Pierce County’s Making a Difference Foundation.
That event had a turnout three times higher than expected, with about a thousand households receiving food boxes, according to the organization’s founder and CEO, Ahndrea Blue.
Today, Ahndrea says they’re expecting even more people.
“We did see we had an unexpected huge turnout last week. So this week we’ve moved from lot A to lot G, which is a bigger lot, in hopes that we’re able to serve people a little bit more quickly. But we’re expecting probably the same amount, if not more people, because many people called us afterwards and said they had no idea that it was happening until it was broadcast on the news,” added Ahndrea.
The increased demand for food assistance is attributed to recent layoffs and furloughs, as well as disrupted SNAP benefits from the ongoing government shutdown, which has now broken the record for the longest shutdown in American history as we enter day 36.
According to the State of Washington, 903,541 Washingtonians received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in March 2025 — 11.2% of the state’s population.
For perspective, before food assistance ended, about two weeks ago, Eloise’s Cooking Pot Food Bank saw about a 27% increase in customers. Last week, it went up 40%. They’re now anticipating demand at the food bank to surpass what they saw during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials confirmed this week that SNAP benefits would receive partial funding. Governor Bob Ferguson says he received direction from the federal government for the state to fill recipients’ cards up to 50% as soon as it gets the money, which has yet to be released. The funds were briefly in question yesterday when President Trump said he wouldn’t fund SNAP until the government reopened, but the White House quickly reaffirmed — it’s happening. Governor Ferguson also plans to allocate $2.2 million per week to support food banks during the shutdown.
Today’s food drive will run from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., or until they run out of food. They’ll give out nine meals along with some fresh produce, some protein items, and some household products.
Ahndrea says they are also working alongside Amazon to get a one-time emergency food delivery program up and running this week.
She expects a long waiting list, so she asks for patience as this program kicks off, and urges anyone interested to go online and sign up: themadf.org/one-time-emergency-food-delivery
“If you can donate, we’re now down to two weeks’ reserve and food, so we need to purchase more food, and we need the funding to be able to do that. If you cannot financially donate, we ask that if you could donate food or do a food drive for us, that would be greatly appreciated,” added Ahndrea. To donate, visit: themadf.org/donate
Eloise’s Cooking Pot is also going to keep its food bank running on McKinley Avenue, north of Division Lane, for any walk-in customers.
The food bank plans to be out in Tacoma every Wednesday until this crisis ends.
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