Moses Lake Food Bank operating with less than half staff
The Moses Lake Food Bank has put out a call for volunteers, saying it’s operating with less than half of its normal volunteer staff.
Emry Dinman/Columbia Basin Herald
MOSES LAKE — With many of its typical volunteers absent, Moses Lake Food Bank desperately needs healthy volunteers to help bag and issue food to those in need, operations manager Peny Archer said in an interview Wednesday.
Around 60 percent of the volunteer base has been asked to stay home, Archer said, due to concerns that they are at higher risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus, and volunteers without those risk factors — age and pre-existing health conditions — are being asked to take their place.
Despite rising unemployment caused by Gov. Jay Inslee’s orders responding to the outbreak, there hasn’t been a huge spike in people in need coming into the food bank, Archer said, possibly due to fear people may have of being exposed to the virus at the facility. However, the food bank is allowing residents to have a third party pick food up for them, Archer said, though she asks for a call ahead.
Beyond volunteers, the food bank could use more donations of food, as well as cash donations that the facility can use to buy varieties of food items that it may run low on.
Those wishing to volunteer or donate can coordinate with Archer at 509-765-8101.