WASHOUGAL — The East County Family Resource Center in Washougal is asking for donations to supplement a rapidly dwindling food supply. The pantry is close to running out of food, according to staff.
The resource center, 1702 C St., operates a community food pantry and provides food for the Washougal School District’s weekly backpack program. The backpack program is the center’s priority for donations.
The Camas and Washougal school districts’ annual Stuff The Bus food drive helps stock the pantry but those donations won’t roll in until later this year.
For now, the center is begging the community for donations, said Adrienne Mason, the Southwest Washington regional director for Akin, formerly the Children’s Home Society of Washington, and the resource center’s main tenant.
“If I can say this with optimism, I think it’s a good problem to have — we’re running out of food because we’re helping so many people,” said Resource Center Manager Reuben Cottingham. “We’re just hoping that we continue to have the resources to serve the community in the way that they need to be served.”
Resource center volunteers prepare 130 backpacks per week for the backpack program.
“We pack those bags with … foods that kiddos could prepare for themselves,” she said, including peanut butter, crackers, oatmeal packets, fruit cups, soup cups, ramen, chili and soup.
“We’re not necessarily sure what food access looks like at home, so the idea is to send them home Friday with food in a backpack to get them through the weekend until they get back to school for breakfast and lunch,” Mason said.
“The backpack program is our first priority … But it is really important for our food pantry to also be stocked,” she said. “These are folks coming in for emergency food assistance to feed families. I think that’s an area where support is still needed. At the end of this week, we’ll be out of food there.”
Mason said the 2023 Stuff The Bus donations “were a little lighter than usual.”
“Historically, Stuff The Bus has been the main provider of food,” she said. “We got less food than we typically do, so we knew we were going to be kind of in a tight spot.”
The Resource Center has seen increased demand for its services, including food, in the past 12 months, also putting strain on the food supply.
“Things have been framed in the past that there’s a certain type of person that needs help, or there’s a certain type of community that needs help,” Cottingham said. “I feel like everyone has had their share of hard times. I think this is just a new norm for us.”
Once the nonprofit realized that the center’s food supply wouldn’t last through November, Akin leaders agreed to a contract with the Clark County Food Bank to augment the food supply.
The nonprofit is also using some of its cash on hand to buy food for the pantry.
“Inflation doesn’t just impact the cost of groceries,” Mason said. “When I talk about Akin having to choose whether we’re going to buy food or diapers, those are the direct decisions that our families are making every single day.”
“I’m pretty optimistic. Once we understand what happens when we band together as a family, cool things can happen,” Cottingham said. “ I’m new to Akin, but from the stories that I’ve heard, Washougal is a community that knows how to come together and get things done so that people who are less fortunate can continue to move forward in their own lives.”
For more information email laura.williams@akinfamily.org or call 360-835-7802. The center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays.
