The challenges we never thought of.
As I started my career in the food bank more than 5 years ago I never thought we would be facing a pandemic. I knew that food banks were essential to those that used our services, but I never knew the scope of what we could provide in times of crisis.
Fast forward to the present and we are facing challenges that are hard to imagine. I have said it this entire pandemic that we cannot be seen as a charity doing good work, we need to be seen as an essential program that the government has to help with. We have seen over 300,000 individuals use our services in 4 months. We have seen the national guard lend a hand to distribute over 2.5 million pounds of food out to those in need.
I can tell you as of this letter that we have not seen the government’s financial or food help like we have been promised. But what we have seen is 700 new donors that have never given to us before validate our mission and strengthen those that are hungry in Skagit County.
I am in awe of the generosity of our community but I question why this burden is weighing on our shoulders. I can promise you that we are making changes right now to the food bank system in Washington State as we go through these tough times.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for standing side by side with us to keep Skagit County strong through these challenging times. Please consider staying with us and continuing to support your community as this continues. We will all be stronger for it and we will show Washington State what taking care of our neighbors really looks like.
Rebecca Larsen
Executive Director
Helping Hands food bank
“We nourish our community with respect, kindness and food without judgment”