PORT ANGELES — Food banks across the North Olympic Peninsula are reshaping how they deliver services and relying more on volunteers as demand rises, donations fall and operating costs climb — all amid continued uncertainty around the economy and government nutrition programs.
Those pressures have driven changes at the Port Angeles Food Bank, where some positions have been eliminated and operations reorganized, Executive Director Emily Dexter said.
“We realized that what normally might be a one- or two- or three-month decline in food and financial donations was really becoming more of a trend,” Dexter said.
“In order to maintain our sustainability, the board decided we needed to make some structural changes.”
The financial situation extended beyond the disruption caused by the recent federal government shutdown.
“We’ve been living off our reserves for the last three years, and we had enough to support ourselves,” Dexter said. “We got to a point where we simply couldn’t do that anymore.”
The Port Angeles Food Bank recorded about 45,000 visits in 2024. Through November, it has logged 46,000 visits — a number that is expected reach about 50,000 by year’s end.
The number of households the Jefferson County Food Bank Association serves has increased from about 3,000 a month to 4,000, said Board President Roland Faragher-Horwell. (A household represents 2.2 people.)
“That number is going to go up,” he said.
The situation in the Port Angeles, Jefferson County and Sequim food banks outpaces statewide statistics.
According to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap 2025 report, food insecurity remains higher on the North Olympic Peninsula than statewide, with roughly 15 percent of Clallam County residents and about 13 percent of Jefferson County residents affected. The disparity is greater among children.
One response, Faragher-Horwell said, has been a plan to expand the way the JCFBA distributes food. The completion of a new warehouse this summer will enable it to increase at its five standalone and pop-up locations next year.
The goal, he said, is to “bring the food closer to the people rather than the people to the food.”
Changes at the Sequim Food Bank include altering how it distributes holiday meals this year.
Rather than Thanksgiving and Christmas food boxes offered on a single day at Carrie Blake Park, the food bank provided one holiday meal ahead of Thanksgiving over three days at its Alder Street location, through its mobile unit and by home delivery.
About 1,200 families were served at a cost of $60,000.
“The past year has been a real roller coaster, not only for us but for our community and families,” said Sequim Food Bank Executive Director Andra Smith, who is leaving her position on Feb. 24 to become executive director of the Washington Food Coalition.
“We realized we needed to look at what and how we do things to make things more efficient and make some strategic changes.”
Among them were introducing cost-saving measures, like reducing egg distribution from a dozen to a half-dozen, lowering monthly spending from $6,000 to $3,000.
Dexter, Smith and Faragher-Horwell said people are increasingly turning to food banks because of other rising costs such as rent, transportation, utilities and health care.
As those expenses outpace wages, households have increasingly depended on food banks to stretch limited budgets. Many clients, Dexter said, are employed but still struggle to cover basic expenses.
“When prices increase and monthly incomes don’t, it puts a lot of pressure on middle-class households,” she said.
Smith said food assistance allows families to redirect limited income toward expenses such as homeowners insurance, which enables them to stay in their homes.
The most visible changes at the Port Angeles Food Bank have occurred at the Market, its grocery-style store.
Four part-time Market positions have been cut and replaced with volunteers. Operating hours have been reduced, and visits are now limited to twice per week, although the Mobile Market schedule hasn’t changed.
The Market now operates from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, with Saturday hours unchanged from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Dexter said the food bank is helping former Market employees seek other jobs, while potential furloughs of additional staff have been put on hold and will be reassessed early next year.
Sequim, JCFBA and Forks Community Food Bank have not experienced any staffing or changes or reductions in hours.
Across organizations, food bank leaders expressed appreciation for those who have helped sustain their work.
“We could not do this work without our volunteers, donors and the broader community,” Dexter said. “They stepped up when we really needed them.”
Contact information
To donate, volunteer or seek assistance, reach area food banks at the following numbers:
• Forks Community Food Bank, 360-374-4197.
• Jefferson County Food Bank Association, 360-774-4680.
• Port Angeles Food Bank, 360-452-8568.
• Sequim Food Bank, 360-683-1205.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
