Bellingham Food Bank moves to packaged foods amid coronavirus shutdown

Major changes have been made to the Bellingham Food Bank daily service and operations in response to the coronavirus pandemic in Whatcom County.

While the food bank has not seen a dramatic increase in people trying to access the service, Executive Director Mike Cohen says he expects there to be one.

“I anticipate what we will see are some pretty significant spikes in visits from community members in the coming weeks,” Cohen said.

Since March 24, they have also switched from a grocery store type of self-service featuring fruits, produce, milk, cheeses and other perishable items, to instead preparing a weekly package of shelf-stable foods like canned foods, rice, pasta. Around 1,000 packages are built daily by the volunteer staff.

“Before, when folks visited our food bank or either of our satellite locations, we had set up like a small grocery store so people are able to essentially shop for the food. And 70% to 80% of that was perishable product. Fresh milk, cheeses, breads, tens of pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen protein, eggs. Now, all we’re doing at our downtown location is building these prepacked boxes,” Cohen said.

Volunteer staff over the age of 60 were told to stay home and stay safe while the remaining volunteers assemble the packages. Despite losing such help, Cohen said the food bank is actively seeking more volunteers and has encouraged anyone looking to help to volunteer with Whatcom Unified Command, the multi-governmental agency that’s directing local pandemic response.

The need for monetary donations, however, has skyrocketed since the change because the food bank has had to purchase the food rather than take donations from the community.

“The last thing I want somebody doing is deciding they want to help us out, going to the grocery store, buying food and then dropping it off at our food bank,” Cohen said. “I’d much rather have them make a modest monetary donation and let us purchase that food by the truckload.”

Preferred food donations include canned food, peanut butter, dry beans, rice and pasta.