Salvation Army’s food bank needs help filling shelves EVERETT - The Salvation Army’s food bank is running out of food after major contributors backed out this year.
The food bank’s shelves are emptying due to the losses. The food bank at 2525 Rucker Ave. has a month’s worth of supplies left.
“We’ve never been this low at this point in the year in the past,” Salvation Army director Maj. Jonathan Apuan said.
The Salvation Army used to receive 20,000 pounds of food a month — 120 tons a year — from a food bank program run out of Jackson High School. The high school turned the program into an independent food bank earlier this year.
The change was “a pretty big hit,” Apuan said, calling it a dramatic loss.
Two other major contributors that gave a combined 10,000 pounds of food each month also stopped this year. The food bank gets food from organizations, such as Food Lifeline, but the losses hurt.
The food bank gives out about 25,000 to 27,000 pounds of food a month, food bank manager Jason Detmer said.
The food bank will be able to continue serving people without interruption for a little while, but it’s running a deficit of 8,000 pounds of food a month, Detmer said.
The food bank serves adult-only households. Families with children can get food from the Volunteers of America food bank.
The Salvation Army’s food bank gave out food boxes intended to last a few weeks to 6,600 households between September 2011 and September 2012.
The food bank is seeing new faces every day, people who say “I’ve never had to do this before,” Detmer said.
The food bank needs food with protein — canned meats, chili and peanut butter — to provide balanced meals in the food boxes.
With Thanksgiving less than 30 days away, right now the food bank has no turkeys but 250 people have signed up for meals. There are 350 people signed up for Christmas meals.
A donor has offered to provide the food bank with one-third of the turkeys it needs for Thanksgiving, but the donor’s gift covers turkeys for smaller households, Detmer said.
The food bank is trying to spread the word to get more groups to raise money for food, Apuan said. Mini food drives help, he said.
The Salvation Army’s food bank is located at 2525 Rucker Ave. Service hours are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
