Food bank making push to buy truck

Refrigerated truck scheduled to arrive within month

MOSES LAKE — The truck is on the way, but representatives from the Moses Lake Food Bank are asking for a little more help from the community to help pay for it when it arrives.

A new state law requires the food bank to transport its perishable food in a refrigerated vehicle. Since May, the food bank has taken in more than $47,000 in donations, but are still short approximately $8,500 to pay the entire bill.

"We're falling short and we're under crunch time," food bank assistant executive director Peny Archer said.

Archer said the food bank needed to order the truck as they enter the busy winter season, and could not postpone delivery any longer. The 2006 GMC refrigerated truck is scheduled to arrive from Seattle within the month. Without the truck, perishable donated food cannot legally be transported by the food bank, Archer said.

"The donated food's available, we just can't store it," Archer said.

Approximately 80 percent of the food bank's donations are frozen, and food bank officials have said they don't want to lose donors over the absence of a truck. The food bank had been planning on acquiring the truck for 2007, before a law was signed into effect in May.

Sizable donations from groups like the Sunrise Rotary of Moses Lake, the Paul Lauzier Foundation, Basic American Foods, Chemi-Con, the Moses Lake Lioness Club, Skillsource, and the Moses Lake Ministerial Association have already helped gather most of the money for the truck.

"We're trying to get one last push to see if the community can help us out," Archer said.

The truck will hold six pallets of food, compared to a 1979 GMC 1 ton the food bank is using now that only holds two pallets. When the new truck arrives, the food bank will use it not just for frozen transportation, but for storage as well.

Food bank Executive Director Linda Finlay said area food processors are usually able to give to the food bank, but without the refrigerated truck the food bank is unable to transport their perishable food donations.

"When they have an inventory, they need to move that product out," Finlay said of the food processors. "We want them to move it out to us."

The food bank is also a lead agency for about 10 other food banks in Grant, Adams and Lincoln counties. All are being impacted without the truck. The Moses Lake Food Bank serves 1,400 families a month, and brings in approximately 1.3 million pounds in donated food each year.

The last push for the truck comes with the arrival of winter, when Archer said families need protein in their diets. The food bank is also accepting excess food caught from fisherman and hunters. Recently more than 30 members of the Sand Scorpions ORV recently were able to hook 136 Rainbow Trout during a fishing expedition for the food bank.

Donations for the truck can be sent to the Moses Lake Food Bank, P.O. Box 683, Moses Lake, WA 98837.