Unemployment drives high demand for food assistance

The sharp increase in unemployment in Washington caused by the new coronavirus pandemic has triggered an enormous jump in demand for food assistance, state officials said Thursday.

Last November, about 850,000 people sought help from food banks around the state. That number has grown to 1.6 million people since the pandemic began and is expected to hit 2 million by the end of May, said Katie Rains, Food Assistance Specialist at the state Department of Agriculture.

The department’s director, Derek Sandison, added: “We figure that we’re needing to provide $6 million of food per week to meet this demand. It is taking all of us working collectively.”

The Department of Agriculture received $10 million from the revised operating budget that the Legislature approved in March.

Sandison said the state is being assisted by Philanthropy Northwest and other charitable donors to meet demand for food in May. Federal funding for milk, fruit, vegetables, and protein sources including meat is expected to be available starting in June and will continue through September and possibly for the rest of the year, he said.

Meanwhile, food banks and pantries around the state have seen their food donations drop by 70 percent since the pandemic began.

Restaurants say they have had to cut back on their donations to food banks because of the partial business closure ordered by Gov. Jay Inslee to slow the spread of COVID-19. Also, grocery stores have reduced their donations to food banks because of higher demand as customers have stockpiled food.

Kiran Ahuja, chief executive officer of Philanthropy Northwest, said $3 million has been raised for the Washington Food Fund. On April 7, Inslee joined nonprofit groups and local philanthropies to launch the statewide food relief fund.

“We have a goal of $11 million to raise to provide those resources to get us to the time in June and July when federal resources will kick in,” said Ahuja. “But the more and more I know ... as those jobless numbers go up, I’m afraid $11 million will not be enough.”

In early April, the Washington National Guard was deployed to assist local food banks, including Nourish Pierce County.

Sue Potter, the chief executive officer of the nonprofit food bank, said the doubling of demand for food assistance in Pierce County has mirrored the state’s figures.

Without the 52 guardsmen standing in for volunteers who have had to stay home because of COVID-19, Nourish Pierce County would not be able to distribute food at 23 sites, Potter said. Guardsmen are packing bags and boxes of groceries at a warehouse, helping to hand those out at the sites, operating two semi-tractor-trailer trucks that serve as mobile food banks, and also working at five brick-and-mortar locations.

The food bank is seeing many people who are getting help with food for the first time, Potter said.

“People are scared. They don’t know what’s going to happen or when it’s going to happen. Everybody is kind of walking around in a daze, but they instantly feel a sense of relief knowing that they’re going to be able to feed their families.

“That energy keeps us going. What we’ve seen is it’s unfortunate it took a pandemic to do this, but this whole episode has shown the really, really important role that food pantries play in our community. We will always be the first ones there that people can turn to when they need us,” she added

This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Unemployment drives high demand for food assistance."