SEQUIM — Costs and demand for services at the Sequim Food Bank are now the largest in its history, facility leaders say, as locals face tough financial decisions.
Some of those choices, Food Bank Board President Deon Kapetan said, include when or if people can make a car payment, buy prescriptions or what they’re going to feed their families.
“More people are using the food bank to bridge the gap in hopes it’s temporary to make ends meet,” Kapetan said. “We’re seeing more and more people in need we wouldn’t see on a regular basis because of the general costs of things going up.”
In August, 150 new families or households accessed at least one of the food bank’s programs, Executive Director Andra Smith said.
“These are our neighbors, and those are our visitors,” she said. “That’s what’s hard. People in our community are struggling.”
Smith said the facility saw a 34 percent increase through August in usage from 2024, and an estimated 30 percent of residents in Sequim School District boundaries use services at least once a year.
“These are some staggering numbers,” Kapetan said.
Staff and volunteers also started the school year providing 300 weekend meal bags, a weekly program for Sequim students, which isn’t included in the food bank’s distribution numbers, Smith said.
The food bank budgets almost $100,000 a year for the program, she said, and following a survey of families, it has swapped out some items for those with a longer shelf life.
Due to demand and less support or food from federal and state agencies, the Sequim Food Bank also has had to increase its food purchasing budgeted expenses by about $48,000 from January through July over the same time period last year.
The food bank budgeted about $600,000 for food purchases in 2025, and its leaders said they’ve already pulled from reserves to cover the extra demand.
The increase in demand is “scary,” Smith said, as “the economics of families are changing.”
Food bank patrons have shared with staff about cuts to their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and about reductions in pay or hours at work, medical emergencies and car problems, among other hardships.
Funding concerns
On the bright side, Smith said community giving is up 10 percent so far this year from 2024.
“We’re grateful to the community,” she said.
Looking ahead, Smith said federal and state funding seems unclear for Sequim and other agencies.
While the Sequim Food Bank does not directly contract with the federal government, food from partner agencies has been fluctuating as they’ve experienced funding reductions, she said.
Smith reported that the Local Food Purchasing Agreement grant worth $40,000 to purchase local produce through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) stopped this year. However, she said they’re committed to the program and have planned to purchase about $50,000 in local produce from six local farms this year.
Smith said they’ve bought more than 110,000 pounds from the farms over the years.
“We find supporting local agricultural is very important,” she said.
Gov. Bob Ferguson said in July that about 1 million Washingtonians rely on SNAP benefits monthly, and 170,000 could lose benefits following measures made in the “Big Beautiful Bill Act,” including new work and age requirements that previously exempted veterans, former foster youth and the homeless.
Ferguson said the “bill reduces SNAP benefits to the average household under the Thrifty Food Plan by about $56 per month (and) decreases the maximum allotment per household.”
Smith added that the reduction will result in more people needing to use the food bank and food pantries.
Kapetan said they’ve already turned to other grant options and for support from locals and foundations.
Smith said they recently received a gift from a local church to help the Weekend Meal Bag program.
Everyone at the Table
The food bank will host an open house and fundraiser called Everyone at the Table from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 27 at its facility, 144 W. Alder St. Organizers will welcome volunteers, donors, visitors and supporters with a chef-prepared meal featuring ingredients available at the food bank with live music by Bread & Gravy.
They’ve set a fundraising goal of $50,000 to support meals and community programs.
Kapetan said it’s an opportunity to learn more about the food bank, its needs and ways to help.
Changes ahead
For some operations at the food bank and during the holidays, Smith said they’ve made some changes.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the food bank hosted its Family Holiday Meal Program in Carrie Blake Community Park for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Now the event will shift to three days — Nov. 21, 22 and 24 — at the facility, along with regularly scheduled Mobile Food Pantry stops for Thanksgiving.
Holiday food will only be offered for Christmastime if some is left from November, Smith said.
During pickup, visitors will choose the foods they like instead of food being boxed up beforehand due to costs for food and labor, she said.
With boxing up so much food, Smith said they found it was creating waste with the items people didn’t necessarily want, and it was taking away their choice.
The Christmas distribution also wasn’t as popular, she said.
Mobile Food Pantry
In May, the food bank rolled out its Mobile Food Pantry that visits six sites in the Sequim area each week. It offers similar items as the Alder Street facility, such as milk, eggs, butter, proteins, dry and canned goods, fresh and seasonal produce and baked goods.
In August, it served 454 households, Smith said.
Staff said anyone can attend one of the listed sites, except for the Vintage Apartments, which is for residents only. The schedule, including inclement weather, is as follows:
• 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays, Olympic Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1055 N. Barr Road.
• 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Wednesday, Seabreeze Apartments, 525 McCurdy Road.
• 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe campus, 70 Zaccardo Road.
• 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursdays, Elk Creek Apartments, 90 S. Rhodefer Road.
• 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays, The Vintage, 1009 W. Brackett Road.
• 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays, Suncrest Village Retirement Community, 251 S. Fifth Ave.
First timers
Food bank leaders say they continue to strive to break down the stigma of people using the facility, and that people attending may be picking up for a neighbor, friend or family member.
They ask that first-time visitors share the names and ages of the people in the household with information only kept for internal identification purposes to make the intake process quicker each time, Smith said.
People are not turned away, and they ask that returning people use the same name each time.
For more information about the Sequim Food Bank, visit sequimfoodbank.org.
