Nov. 1 – From cans of tuna to ramen noodles, Salvation Army staff and volunteers dumped donated food into white cardboard boxes in light rain Saturday as part of the organization’s one-day “emergency food drive.” The effort was sparked by the murky future of federal food assistance and a record turnout at the Salvation Army’s Spokane food pantry last month.
“We are doing a food drive simply because of the increased need due to the government shutdown and some of the challenges surrounding working families right now,” said Capt. David Cain, county coordinator for The Salvation Army in Spokane.
The Trump administration refused to use $6 billion in emergency funds to fund food stamps, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, starting this weekend amid the government shutdown. However, two federal judges on Friday ordered the Trump administration to use those funds to pay for food assistance. More than 40 million Americans, including 83,000 Spokane County residents, use the program to help them afford food.
The judges gave the Trump administration until Monday to come up with a plan to continue paying SNAP benefits, but it remains unclear if and when those payments will resume.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson announced last week that he would allocate $2.2 million a week in additional funding for the state’s food banks if a deal had not been reached by Nov. 1.
Cain said he has already seen an increase in the number of families using the Salvation Army food pantry in north Spokane, located on Indiana Avenue between Lidgerwood and Ruby streets, before early November, when food stamps were suspended.
Cain said the pantry, one of the largest food pantries in Spokane County, serves about 170 families a day. That average was exceeded on several days in late October, including one day when more than 270 families came out for food, the largest number ever seen at the food distribution center.
Saturday’s food drive was aimed at replenishing shelves to keep up with the “unprecedented demand,” which was seen not only in Spokane but also at Salvation Army Hope Market food pantries across the state, according to the organization in a news release.
Salvation Army staff and volunteers hosted the food drive, in partnership with Walmart, under a black Salvation Army canopy outside the gates of the Walmart Shadle Park in north Spokane.
According to the Salvation Army, the campaign raised between 1 and 2 tons of food.
Christine Carlile and Victoria Nicodemus were some of the first to donate on Saturday. When asked why they decided to donate food, both women, who donated at different times, said, “People need to eat.”
“This is one of the richest nations in the world,” Carlile said. “We shouldn’t have hungry people in this country. That’s why it bothers me.”
The women donated cereal, dozens of cans of tuna, Top Ramen, soup, peanut butter, bread, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese and other canned goods.
Both called the federal government’s decision to suspend SNAP benefits “ridiculous.”
“You shouldn’t use people’s food or people’s medical benefits or things that people need as a political weapon,” Carlile said.
Nicodemus said he knows many people with health problems who receive food stamps.
“Why take food away from people?” he said of the Trump administration’s decision. “That’s ridiculous.”
Cain said many people rely on SNAP benefits and food pantries to barely make ends meet. Several families using the Salvation Army food pantry are on the brink of homelessness and are making difficult decisions between buying food and paying bills.
“We are often that buffer between some of those really challenging decisions,” Cain said.
Cain said the end of the months is generally the busiest time for the food pantry as people’s SNAP benefits run out, but given uncertainties about federal food assistance, Cain doesn’t anticipate a slowdown in early November.
The Salvation Army food pantry is under construction to add space, and is expected to be completed in December. Cain said the organization planned to close the pantry for two weeks to transition to the new space, but decided against it due to the growing food needs in the community.
“We’re right on the verge of finishing the construction project, but we knew this wasn’t the time to do it, so we stayed in our temporary space,” Cain said.
He said the renovated pantry, funded by a $500,000 grant from the city of Spokane, will triple in size and provide more foods that better suit people’s dietary restrictions and cultural preferences.
“We are very excited to open our Customer Choice Food Pantry in December to better and more strategically serve the needs of these families,” Cain said.
The pantry will also test alternative schedules to help working families every Wednesday for the next three weeks, Cain said.
Starting this Wednesday, the pantry will open from noon to 6:30 p.m. All other days it will continue to operate from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
All donations from Saturday’s food drive will go to the Salvation Army’s Spokane Pantry. The public can continue to donate food to the organization at 222 E. Indiana Ave. or by making monetary donations online at makingspokanebetter.org.
“This challenge pushes people to their limits if not for their community to step up, and that’s why one of the things we love about our Spokane neighbors and donors here is how generous and open they are in meeting the needs and supporting our struggling neighbors in these difficult times,” Cain said.