Wahkiakum Food Bank looks for space

Wahkiakum County's oldest food bank is looking for space.

Started over 30 years ago by churches in the Skamokawa and Cathlamet areas, the Wahkiakum Food Bank operates Tuesday afternoons in a room at the county Health and Human Services (H&HS) campus on the Elochoman Valley Road.

That room was created by walling off a bay in a garage, and food bank operators say it's inadequate for their needs. They asked the county board of commissioners to help them find other quarters on the campus.

Commissioners Dan Cothren and Mike Backman said they would look into the issue and consider it again at a future meeting.

Food bank Coordinator Jimmie Lou Cleveland said shelving for food constricts the narrow room, and there isn't enough room for the refrigerators and freezers they need to have on site.

Instead, they have freezers in a building on private property owned by a person who wants to be anonymous.

"We have a lot of protein in storage," said colleague Bob Roche. "At Thanksgiving and Christmas, this creates problems. We need space for the turkeys we're giving away."

Roche added that there is enough room for only a couple families in the food bank quarters, so, in bad weather, other families have to wait outside in the rain.

The quarters are convenient for many clients, he added, for many are also clients of Health and Human Services and they can combine visits. Both sites are served by the Wahkiakum on the Move bus line.

Roche suggested that if the county Search and Rescue (SAR) program acquires space in the garage at Skamokawa Vista Park as part of the dismantling of the defunct Skamokawa Park and Recreation District, SAR could vacate some space at the H&HS Elochoman campus, and the food bank could use that for storage.

That move might be possible, said Sheriff Mark Howie. It depends on how much space becomes available for SAR in Skamokawa.

However, he added that it is convenient for the sheriff's office to have equipment stored closer to the courthouse than in Skamokawa.

Cothren pointed out that H&HS is analyzing its space needs and may make major changes at the Elochoman Campus. In discussions earlier this year, officials said that might mean the food bank would have to find a new home.

"We are looking at doing things with the health department," he said. "We need to find some kind of space to put the food bank."

"I understand that, but it is vitally important that we are connected with Health and Human Services," Roche said. "People go from one building to the other."

H&HS spokesperson Chris Holmes commented that the department considers food security to be one of the most important issues for all county residents.

He also wondered if the Wahkiakum Food Bank could work with the Helping Hand Food Bank and two other food programs which are trying to find funding for a building to be located in Cathlamet's Erickson Park.

"We've tried that," Roche said. "Helping Hand's mission is different than ours."

Backman said he wanted to visit the Wahkiakum Food Bank to see how it works; he did that Tuesday afternoon.

Cothren said there needs to be further discussion.

"We are coming to an issue we'll have to address," he said. "If I could come up with a building, I would."