Hunger is unacceptable. It's a phrase we in the food bank and anti-hunger world hear and say a lot. Unacceptable or not, hundreds of Bellingham families visit our food bank each week. Right now, one in six Bellingham households rely our food bank on a regular basis. Most of us probably know someone who will use the food bank this month.
The face of hunger in Bellingham is surprising and diverse. For many of our clients, a string of unfortunate events and bad luck pushed them to a place they never anticipated. This is what happened to Elliot.
Elliot was in the Marines for nine years. He is a trained chef who has cooked in cities around the country, including Bellingham. Due to injuries sustained in a car accident, Eliot became unable to meet the physical demands of his job. Soon afterward he was diagnosed with a tumor that is requiring even more medical attention. Recently Eliot was classified as disabled, giving him some financial and medical benefits. However, this intelligent, articulate father of four is making it through life on just over $1,000 a month. Despite these challenges, Elliot remains positive and upbeat. He is in line with hundreds of others every week and says it's the only way he is keeping his family fed.
Client visits to our food bank have increased by 50 percent since 2007. Bellingham Food Bank is the third busiest food bank in Western Washington. Each month Bellingham Food Bank distributes about 250,000 pounds of groceries, the equivalent of eight fully loaded semi-trucks. That's our work each month: to procure and distribute a quarter of a million pounds of food. Fortunately, we get tremendous support from our community to help us feed our community.
Local grocery stores like Haggen, The Markets, Trader Joe's, and the Community Food Co-op donate thousands of pounds of food each day. We have more than 200 volunteers providing more than 2,000 hours of work each month. Our volunteers do everything from picking up and sorting surplus food from stores to growing fresh food at our Food Bank Farm to passing out groceries to our clients. Individuals and businesses make critical financial donations, allowing us to purchase nutrient-rich food that is routinely missing from our donation streams. Many groups, large and small, coordinate food drives throughout the year, providing us with hundreds of thousands of pounds of non-perishable food. Our staff is immensely grateful for all of the support we receive. This includes the recent efforts of one determined 6-year-old.
Grayson is a first grader at Sunnyland Elementary. One evening he saw a television program about an international childhood hunger-relief organization. He said the program made him "feel guilty." After speaking with his father, mother and grandmother, he learned that there were also hungry kids right here in Bellingham. Grayson decided he wanted to collect food at his school to help feed local kids. With the support of his parents and teachers he was leading a school-wide food drive. Grayson admitted to being nervous when he addressed the 345 other students at an all-school assembly, but he remained focused on his goal. At the end, in just two weeks, Grayson was responsible for more than 1,500 pounds of food Sunnyland Elementary School collected for our food bank. Excited and energized, he is already planning next year's food drive.
Although hunger is unacceptable, it is still a grim reality for many in our community. 2011 was a record year for Bellingham Food Bank, and the need for our services will not be going way any time soon. We remain committed to providing as much good food as we can grow, rescue and buy for those in need. Yet we really can't do it alone. We need your support more than ever to ensure our neighbors will be fed. Consider joining our fight to combat hunger.
Mike Cohen is executive director of Bellingham Food Bank, 1824 Ellis St., Bellingham. Contact him at 360-676-0392 or mikec@bellinghamfoodbank.org.
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