SNOHOMISH, Wash. — Friday morning, the Arlington Food Bank was burglarized, and a good portion of their holiday haul was cleared out.
Within hours of that burglary, other members of the Snohomish County Food Bank Coalition called Carla Rankin, the Executive Director of the food bank. They helped her restock the cases of eggs, crates of milk, and boxes of frozen hams the burglar made off with.
All of those products are things coalition members have because of American Rescue Plan Act funds and were able to shift around to cover the gaps. Coalition leaders also say they’re not counting on those ARPA funds to cover all of 2024.
“Last round we said 18 months $1.8 million that’s $100k a month basically,” said Marysville Food Bank’s Executive Director, Jim Beaudion.
That last round of ARPA money hit the coalition’s bank account in February 2023. The first American Rescue Plan Act boost came in 2022. In total, the Snohomish County Food Bank Coalition received just under $3 million.
“Without those ARPA funds, many of us didn’t have milk available, didn’t have eggs available, didn’t have protein available,” said Carla Rankin. “So the funds have strictly been purchasing those items, that’s what all of us [coalition members] agreed was the biggest need and most expensive.”
The coalition is made up of 19 food banks throughout the county. All say the federal dollars have freed up more of their own funds to stock fresh produce and bakery items. Coalition members also say those COVID relief funds are coming in handy because the need has gone up since COVID.
“Last year for the total year we served over 16,000 families. At the end of September this year I was already at 17,752 families,” said Beaudion.
“In fact, for most of our food banks they have doubled since COVID,” said the President of Snohomish County Food Bank Coalition Casey Davis.
She’s also the Executive Director of the Edmonds Food Bank.
This latest installment of ARPA money is expected to run out summer of 2024. Coalition officials said unless the federal government reallocates more money towards food insecurity, the coalition will be feeding more people with less money.
“Beyond that who knows. We need to figure that out,” said Beaudion.
“The coalition is working very hard to look for other avenues of income so whether that be grants from other organizations, working with the county in other ways, working with the state,” said Davis.
All food banks accept personal monetary donations, but officials said donating to the coalition as a whole instead helps more people in the area.
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