Visits to the Bellingham Food Bank jumped by 20% in 2019. Here’s why
Visits to the Bellingham Food Bank surged by 20% in 2019, its executive director said.
That’s bucking a statewide trend, where visits to food pantries were flat or down slightly, Mike Cohen said to The Bellingham Herald on Friday, Jan. 31.
What’s driving the increase here?
“I think its’ a combination of things,” Cohen said.
People could be turning to the food bank because they’re spending more of their income on housing here, including on steep rent increases, according to Cohen.
Meanwhile, wages haven’t kept up with the cost of living in Whatcom County, he added.
In Bellingham, someone making the minimum wage of $12 an hour in 2019 would have to work 68 hours a week to afford a fair market rate for a two-bedroom home, and 52 hours a week for a one-bedroom, according to a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Or, a worker needs to make $20.35 an hour to afford a two-bedroom residential unit at the fair market rate and $15.60 an hour for a one-bedroom, according to the 2019 report, which is the most recent data available.
The Washington state minimum wage increased to $13.50 in January.
As for the impact of federal policy changes, Cohen said it was difficult to say for certain whether that’s driving the visitor increase to the Bellingham Food Bank.
“We don’t ask a lot of questions when folks come so it’s not easy for us to attribute new food bank visitors to a particular cause,” Cohen said.
Still, new food stamp rules announced by the Trump administration in December could mean more people coming to the Bellingham Food Bank, according to Cohen.
Food stamps are the most effective government policy to decrease food insecurity and hunger, he said.
“We are massively opposed to these changes and think they are wrong, inhumane and have negative effects on people,” Cohen said.
The federal food stamp program is officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
The new rules into work requirements for low-income adults and states’ abilities to ask for waivers from them could cut food stamps for 688,000 recipients in the U.S. — including 68,000 in Washington state, with 2,834 of those in Whatcom County.
Those changes were set to go into effect April 1, although some states have filed a lawsuit to stop them.
Serving more
The Bellingham Food Bank’s central location is on Ellis Street, with one satellite location at Christ the King Community Church on Meridian Street and the other at Alderwood Elementary School on Hollywood Avenue.
People can get food at the food bank twice a week.
Cohen said many households come five or six times a month.
In 2019, the Bellingham Food Bank saw an average of 18,500 visits a month. Each visit represents how many times people came to the food bank — so a family of five coming to the food bank three times a month would be counted as 15 visits, Cohen explained.
To meet what’s expected to be a growing need, Cohen said the Bellingham Food Bank will work with other food pantries in Whatcom County and other organizations to open additional satellites in 2020. They serve those who can’t get to existing locations in Bellingham.
As it has in the past, the food bank will draw on support from the community — one that’s compassionate and understands that decisions in Washington, D.C. affect real people in Bellingham and Whatcom County, Cohen said — in order to help others.
“That’s who leans in and helps out,” Cohen said.
More on the Bellingham Food Bank is at bellinghamfoodbank.org.
