PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles Food Bank has received $81,500 in grant funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and will use those funds to continue to support its market as well as regional food banks and pantries.

It is among three beneficiaries of $256,000 in Emergency Rural Health Care Grants to the Olympic Peninsula. Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue and Clallam Fire District 4 in Joyce received funding for equipment.

“We received this funding to purchase equipment necessary for growth and expansion due to circumstances brought on and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Emily Dexter, Port Angeles Food Bank executive director, in an email on Friday.

Food bank personnel intend to use the funds for cold storage expansion and new commercial kitchen equipment to make ready-to-eat meals for its market shoppers and partner agencies as well as improving building accessibility for community members.

“The equipment improvements support and protect our infrastructure of programs to better serve our community and region for decades to come,” Dexter said.

The Port Angeles Food Bank is the local Redistributing Organization for Food Lifeline and emergency food coming into Clallam County.

“This food is received, stored, and distributed to agencies across the county,” Dexter said.

These agencies include the Sequim Food Bank, Forks Food Bank, New Hope Food Bank, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Food Bank, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe Food Bank, Makah Food Bank, Salvation Army, Serenity House, Quileute Tribal Food Bank, Queets Food Bank, and the Hoh Tribe Food Bank.

“We also serve organizations such as Peninsula Behavioral Health, Healthy Families, and ReDiscovery,” Dexter said.

The USDA awarded $129 million in Emergency Rural Health Care Grants to rural communities, said Congressman Derek Kilmer of the 6th District in a press release.

Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue, which covers the area around Port Angeles form Deer Park to East Beach Road, received a $95,500 grant from the USDA that will go toward the purchase of a new ambulance and other equipment.

Clallam Fire District 4 received a $79,000 USDA grant to purchase two power-lift gurneys.

“This announcement is a testament to the power of investment in rural communities,” said Kilmer, whose district includes the North Olympic Peninsula.

“With significant federal funding focused on helping communities care for people, we’re not only enhancing emergency response capabilities and access to healthy food on the Olympic Peninsula but also taking critical strides toward creating stronger, healthier communities for rural Washingtonians.”

The Emergency Rural Health Care grant was introduced in August 2021, to expand rural health care access during the COVID-19 pandemic .

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Reporter Ken Park can be reached at kpark@peninsuladailynews.com