Donation to Mattawa food bank could pay for 3 1/2 months of service

MATTAWA — The Mattawa Area Food Bank received a check for $3,500 from agriculture group Washington Producers and regional buckwheat farmers earlier this month. The check was presented to food bank staff by Port of Mattawa Director Lars Leland.

The donation will help finance up to three and a half months of day-to-day costs for a service that provides food to an average of 450 families every month, said food bank board member Barbara Walters.

“This is a big deal, because we have the usual overhead – power, water and so on – and we also have to purchase a significant amount of food, in terms of meats and poultry, as well as the staples,” Walters said.

Volunteers with the food bank have an assembly line system to prep packages for families, as boxes go along roller tables while volunteers load them with various foods, Walters said. Families receiving the boxes end up with a balanced variety of foods to help supplement their nutrition during tough financial times.

The number of families the food bank serves varies wildly by year or season, but costs are expected to rise due to federal and state cuts to food programs like SNAP and food stamps, Walters said. This has meant that more families have had to rely on the services of their local food bank, something Walters said may ramp up in the future.

This is around the 15th year that Washington Producers has teamed up with regional buckwheat farmers to donate to this and other food banks, said Darrel Otness, owner of the organization. Buckwheat farmers that partner with the organization donate 50 cents for every acre of their land that produces buckwheat, which Washington Producers matches. In an average year, that amounts to $10,000-$12,000 in donations.

Those hoping to donate to the group can contact them at 509-832-2331.

Emry Dinman can be reached via email at edniman@columbiabasinherald.com.