Peninsula food banks seeing more clients and rising costs

PORT ANGELES — Eggs. Peanut butter. Tuna fish.

If you’ve noticed these staples missing from grocery store shelves lately and that they’re noticeably more expensive when they do appear, just multiply that scarcity and cost by the thousands and you’ll know something about what local food banks are facing.

“There are no eggs,” said Emily Dexter, executive director of the Port Angeles Food Bank. “And I was on a call with our state food assistance program and they’re having a hard time finding peanut butter.”

According to the Consumer Price Index, the overall cost of food rose 11.8 percent from January 2022 to December 2022. The cost of bakery and cereal goods rose 16.1 percent and dairy products rose 15.3 percent.

The cost of eggs — if you can find them — jumped almost 60 percent in 2022 thanks to avian flu and supply chain issues.

Higher food and fuel costs, inflation and a drop in the amount of donated food they distribute have significantly impacted Port Angeles, Forks, Sequim and Jefferson County Food Bank Association operations over the past year at the same time more people are turning to them for assistance.

“We’ve seen a 90 percent increase in the last 12 months of visitor use,” said Andra Smith, executive director of the Sequim Food Bank. “At one point we saw a 58 percent decrease in allocated food.”

According to Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, counties on the North Olympic Peninsula have among the highest food-insecurity rates in the state. In 2020 (the most recent year for which numbers are available), 13.8 percent of households in Clallam County and 13.0 percent in Jefferson County experienced food insecurity, compared to the state average of 8.5 percent.

“Regular food bank users are coming in more often and more new people are seeking assistance,” Dexter said. “We’re probably getting at least 25 new people a week.”

The Jefferson County Food Bank Association is the umbrella organization that oversees food banks in Brinnon, Port Townsend, Quilcene and Tri-Area in Port Hadlock.

Brinnon is the smallest of the four, but it plays an outsize role in the community of less than 1,000, manager Eloise Langenbach said.

“More than fifty percent of the people we see are seniors,” Langenbach said. “But we’re seeing more families.”

Open just one day a week on Tuesdays, last month the Brinnon food bank served 845 people.

Brinnon doesn’t have a supermarket — the nearest is a QFC 35 miles away in Port Hadlock — which can present a dilemma for residents if they have to decide between putting money in their tank to get to a job or go grocery shopping. That’s if they even have a vehicle.

Transportation barriers, low-paying jobs, high rates of unemployment and limited access to affordable food all contribute to rural counties like Clallam and Jefferson having high rates of food insecurity.

This is what executive director Pat Soderlind sees at the Forks Community Food Bank, which serves the West End from Lake Sutherland to the Hoh Rain Forest.

“People are just really having a hard time making ends meet,” Soderlind said.

“Yes, there are jobs and, yes, people are working, but income is lower and there are no rentals in Forks anymore and the ones that are here, they’ve just skyrocketed, she said.

“So people really can’t afford to pay the high cost of inflation on food and then rent and their utilities.”

Communities continued to be generous throughout the pandemic lockdown and afterward with donations of food and money, food banks said, but this can’t make up for the shortfall created by the rising cost of items they must now purchase to make up for falling allotments from hunger relief agencies.

Buying more

Northwest Harvest is the largest hunger relief charity in Washington state. Along with Feeding America, it distributes to food banks including those on the North Olympic Peninsula.

Laura Perez Hamilton, Northwest Harvest’s chief advancement officer, pointed to the economy as a primary driver of food bank use and of pressure on food agencies.

“The economy is actually the biggest factor right now impacting food insecurity and impacting how food banks are able to operate,” Hamilton said.

“The economy is being impacted by a number of different things, including the war in Ukraine and the ability to get agricultural products out of the region and the continuing supply chain disruption that is impacting everything from the ease of procuring food to trucking costs and fuel costs.”

This has changed the way these agencies procure the food they then hand over to food banks.

“Before the pandemic, we were able to source donated food on a large-scale from growers and food distributors,” Hamilton said.

“Because of all the issues happening right now, we have to purchase a majority of the food we’re distributing and that’s becoming more and more difficult.”

In December, Feeding America reported that it would spend $10 million — twice its previous budget of $5 million — to buy food that it would usually obtain through large-scale donations.

Local food banks also are purchasing more food than in the past as well as kinds of food they like to keep in stock because the hunger relief agencies are unable to provide them.

“I don’t know what it is, but tuna fish and peanut butter there’s somewhat of a problem getting them and the cost is ridiculous,” Soderlind said.

Shirley Moss, manager of the Port Townsend Food Bank, said that grocery stores became more efficient at managing their inventory during the pandemic lockdown, which resulted in less food they were unable to sell — food that previously would have been donated.

Nonetheless, Moss said, local business remained strong food bank supporters.

“We go pretty much every day to Safeway and we pick up baked goods, breads and produce. QFC gives us meats and deli items,” Moss said.

“The [Food] Co-op and the [Pan d’Amore Artisan] Bakery have been incredibly generous with us. And we drive to Costco every Thursday and pick up food.”

Moss said that no one who comes to the food bank will go home empty-handed.

“We see new faces every week,” Moss said. “They can come through here and have a great selection and we have pet food because for some people that’s their family.”

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at Paula.Hunt@soundpublishing.com