Food bank feels stress of increased demand

In the face of increasing demand and fewer donations, Helping Hand Food bank is struggling to meet local need.

One of two county food banks, Helping Hand is seeing more new faces and serving more people than they have in the past.

“I see the same thing here that I’ve seen at every food bank I’ve ever worked at,” said Helping Hand volunteer Chuck Burton.

“People would like to work. For them to need help is demoralizing. Most people don’t know how tough the economy is right now. Some of these people are disabled, but a lot can’t find a job.”

Helping Hand operates in the building that housed the Rat Tap Tavern at the Town dock. The food bank served about 150 families last month, said Director Mary Dasher.

“That’s about 340 individuals,” she said. Speaking from memory Dasher said there are about 8-10 children under two years old, and over 90 seniors, 55 and older.

“There’s been an on-going upswing in people needing help, and there are larger families. In general, food donations are down. Cash donations are zilch,” she said.

The food bank receives fresh vegetables in season from local gardeners, eggs from local farmers and produce from NW Harvest.

“We get cases of watermelon, cantaloupe and plums. We try to give them away as quickly as we can. Just get them out. Potatoes and onions are a staple,” she said.

Helping Hand has used cash donations to buy extra things like tooth paste, personal care items, toiletries, toilet paper, odds and ends, maybe Certs, as well as to pay its monthly expenses, Dasher said.

“When you’re poor, Certs are something you wouldn’t buy. It would feel like a luxury. We hope to brighten their day,” she said.

Monthly expenses include propane, electricity, sewer and a portable toilet, and their bank account is about $500, Dasher said. The group moved into the building temporarily and has looked for other options.

Dasher said, “It may look like we have a lot of food, but we have a lot of the same things.”

Long-time Helping Hand volunteer Joy Ferguson helped recipients fill a cart with what’s available, explaining, “you can have four of these” or “one of each of these” in the narrow aisles.

Volunteer Bjarne Rostad explained that usually on the second Tuesday only commodities are distributed. But if people from the West side of the county come, they’re allowed their usual distribution as well.

Commodities like peanut butter, pasta, canned fruit, canned juice and vegetables are available. Cheese is available in Longview, but not Cathlamet.

Dasher said the volunteers are “wonderful. They’re just amazing.” An average of four to nine people help weekly.

“It would be nice to have another building,” volunteer Bjarne Rostad said, gesturing, “The floor slopes.”

The governing board is composed of Craig Brown, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, Fred Johnson, a deacon for St. Catherine Catholic Church, Mark Phillips, pastor of the Assembly of God Church and Shane Skinner of the Cathlamet Christian Fellowship, along with Dasher, who took over two years ago after her husband, Rick Dasher, who founded the food bank, died.

Dasher said that the federal funding which they had received in the past “had dried up and the bank had lost a couple grants because of its temporary accommodations.”

Johnson said the board has been working on solutions to these problems.

In addition to volunteers, Helping Hand gets assistance from people working off community service hours.

“We need volunteers to unload the truck,” said Burton, “because we’re almost too old.”

When members of St. James Episcopal Church heard from food bank recipients that there wasn’t much food available, they became concerned. St. James voted to give Helping Hand $493, a collection it had taken when the food bank was considering a new building.

“I had been in the Dollar Store and seen they had pancake mix and syrup, and then I remembered we didn’t have money to spend,” Dasher said.

Later, Dasher learned that St. James was going to make a contribution and said, “I literally cried. God is so good. He provided,” she said.

The work is something that’s dear to her. “It’s my pleasure, my obligation and I love it dearly,” Dasher said.

Helping Hand is open every Tuesday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Individuals needing help may call Wahkiakum Health and Human Services, 360-795-8630.

Donations may be sent to Christie Davis, 10 School House Road, Cathlamet, WA 98612, who does bookkeeping for Helping Hand, and additional volunteers are welcome.