Concern for Neighbors: ‘We need you more than ever right now’

Mountlake Terrace’s Concern for Neighbors Food Bank is seeing an increase in client need, rising food prices and a decrease in available resources.

“We need you more than ever right now,” Concern for Neighbors Executive Director Carla Brown said during a recent interview, requesting donations of food, money and volunteer hours.

In the last three years, Brown said Concern for Neighbors has seen an 89% increase in clients while receiving only 60% of the donations compared to previous years.

The food bank is serving immigrant families, those who are elderly or disabled, and women with families who have left abusive situations, she said.

“We deliver to them as well, so we’re looking for more volunteers to drive the food to clients,” Brown said.

Concern for Neighbors has also experienced an increase in clients descrbed as working poor – those who are working but only make enough for housing and transportation.

“There are some families that only have $12 [left] after they have paid their bills,” Brown said.

Along with the number of families in need, food prices continue to rise. Brown said the cost of produce for the food bank went from $370 a week to $800, a 46.25% increase. This makes the shopping team’s ability to find deals more important than ever, and more challenging.

Then, there are upcoming cuts in federal funding.

Brown said that the number of clients will increase as federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are reduced starting at the end of September, with the pain being fully felt in December.

In a July 3 press release responding to the reconciliation bill passed by Congress, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said that 1 million Washingtonians who receive SNAP assistance will see a reduction in benefits, with more than 130,000 people possibly losing their benefits altogether.

The bill reduces SNAP benefits to households under the Thrifty Food Plan by about $56 per month and decreases the maximum allotment a household can receive.

However, help has been arriving. Brown said the owners of the Lynnwood Grocery Outlet and the soon-to-open  Mountlake Terrace Grocery Outlet stores contacted Concern for Neighbors and asked if they would like to form a partnership.

“Which is going to be an incredible, incredible gift to our clients right now,” Brown said.

The food bank also started a GoFundMe account, which has raised more than $1,300.

Brown said that news of the GoFundMe raised awareness in general and has also resulted in donations coming in through the organization’s PayPal account.

For more information about Concern for Neighbors, including how to donate via PayPal, click here.

For the food bank’s GoFundMe account, click here.