Major food bank sees record use, new visitors. What is Olympia doing to help?
The Olympia City Council voted unanimously on Nov. 18 to send $30,000 to the Thurston County Food Bank to address food insecurity in the wake of the federal government shutdown that lasted 43 days and cut off SNAP benefits for families across the country.
Council member Jim Cooper was the prime sponsor. He said at the council meeting Nov. 18 that the matter has been complex, because it’s been a moving target.
He said the idea arose during the federal government shutdown. Starting Nov. 1, President Donald Trump halted or limited SNAP benefits for people around the country, leaving 35,000 Thurston County residents without access to food assistance.
A few days later, Gov. Bob Ferguson directed $2.2 million of state-funded emergency food assistance be transferred to the Washington State Department of Agriculture to support local food banks. The Thurston County Food Bank received $60,000 from that, according to council documents.
Ferguson also used the emergency funding to distribute full SNAP benefits for all people who were scheduled to receive them between Nov. 1 and Nov. 12.
According to council documents, local food banks, including Thurston County’s, are experiencing a surge in demand, with as many as 40 new families visiting each week. Before the shutdown, the food bank already faced $1.5 million reduction in annual federal funding.
Cooper originally requested that the City Council use $50,000 of its goal fund and other available funds to support the food bank. Cooper said at the meeting that, based on where the city is financially, the request has been brought down to $30,000.
Mayor Dontae Payne said at the meeting that $15,000 would come from the council’s goal fund, and another $15,000 would come from the City Manager’s contingency fund.
Cooper said he doesn’t think the city can solve the food bank’s financial problems. He said he thinks the council could play a bigger role in the community’s food security, but that it will take more long term, sustainable actions.
He said the survival threshold for a family of four in Thurston County to afford to eat for a year is $16,800.
Council member Dani Madrone said at the meeting that issues of food security tend to come to the forefront for local governments when there’s a crisis. She said there is long-term work that needs to happen so that when there are disruptions, the impacts aren’t felt as deeply.
Madrone said this is the second food system disruption she’s seen in her time on the council, after the COVID-19 pandemic. She said she’s hopeful that the council can have future conversations about long-term food security and how the city can contribute to keeping the local food system healthy.
Mayor Pro Tem Yến Huỳnh said at the meeting that the food bank has said the $15,000 of council goal funds would be more than welcome and sufficient for the food bank’s current needs. She said she would be happy to deplete the contingency fund as well, or have that other $15,000 go into the General Fund to help cover the city’s budget deficit.
Payne said he thinks that if the city can help one family, that’s worth it.
“I think that there is a real opportunity here to put our money where our mouth is, and demonstrate a small action, a small gesture to our community and to folks who are utilizing the food bank, who are in need, that this council cares about them, even if they don’t know who we are,” Payne said.
A drop in the bucket
In an interview on Nov. 19, Food Bank Executive Director John Ficker said he’s incredibly grateful for the city’s funding allocation, and that just because the shutdown has ended doesn’t mean damage hasn’t been done.
Ficker said the funds will be used to directly purchase food to be distributed at the food bank, as the federal government has reduced the amount of food it has historically provided by nearly 25%. At the same time, the food pantries and satellites are seeing a significant rise in demand, he said.
He said the Lacey pantry and satellites have been setting attendance records in the last couple of weeks.
“For example, in Lacey I think it was the week before last, we had 255 guest shoppers come through our pantry that day, and 50 of them were new,” Ficker said. “It is frequently between about 15% and like 22% of our shoppers every time that we open our doors right now, are first time users.”
Ficker said the $30,000 from the city is meaningful, but the food bank still has a long way to go. He said the federal government providing 25% less food this year is equal to $500,000 to $1 million worth of food that’s no longer available.
Ficker said he’s concerned that people will see the government resuming and SNAP benefits having been reinstated as the solution to the problem. He said in his mind, that was a short distraction from the underlying problem, which is that SNAP benefits have been reduced for many families and are not available to a lot of people who had them previously.
He said the food bank anticipates the rise in demand continuing as the holiday season arrives, and inflation and food costs continue to increase. He said they’re seeing more employers laying folks off as well.
“The mission of our organization is to eliminate hunger in our community in the spirit of neighbors helping neighbors,” Ficker said. “And that neighbors helping neighbors part is really what we’re relying on as we look ahead to the future.”
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