Othello Food Bank looks to keep the lights on

OTHELLO — Othello Food Bank director Sharon Mobley was loading the truck Tuesday morning, getting ready for a delivery. Supplying the food is one of the less challenging parts of running the facility, she said.

“People kind of forget - you’ve got to keep the lights on,” Mobley said. “We’ve got to keep the refrigerators and freezers going, gas in the truck to pick up all the food. People don’t always think about those things.”

The finances for such things are getting a bit dicy she said.

“We’ve been working on trying to get some funding, and things are looking better - (the food bank chair) found a couple resources that we didn’t know about, some government resources,” Mobley said. “This was through the city, the mayor. They came up with a couple ideas.”

Those funding sources look promising, but were unexpected she said.

“We didn’t know about it, but sometimes when you get a little desperate, you start really scouring. Usually you just kind of take the ones you know, and then, ‘I’ve got to figure out something new to do,’ and that’s what he’s been doing.”

Even with the possibility of extra funding, the food bank is still looking for donations, especially monetary donations, Mobley said.

Usage at the food bank varies by season, she said.

“This time of year a lot of our clients are working, busy out in the fields, or just not always around. In summer it’s slower. Winter is where we’re busiest,” she said.

She estimated the food bank distributes an average of 50 to 100 boxes per day. Tuesday is the day of the fresh produce delivery and usage increases as a result, she said. Currently the food bank also makes a weekly delivery to the community of Hatton, west of Othello. Mobley said the food bank has about 35 clients there.

Mobley said the food bank is part of a network, local and regional, that keeps the organization supplied with the means to fill the boxes distributed to its customers.

“We don’t pay for food. All our food is donated. We’re very blessed there,” Mobley said.

The food bank receives donations from Second Harvest, which its staff picks up in Pasco. Othello also gets donations from Northwest Harvest, distributed through Moses Lake.

“Through Second Harvest we’re in a program called Grocery Recovery, and that’s with Walmart. And so we go twice a week to Walmart and pick up donations there,” Mobley said. “We can get anywhere from 100 to 300 to 400 pounds or more. Sometimes we have to take our pickup twice to go get it all. It just depends on what they have.

“We’re always grateful because it’s really good to have all that extra stuff,” she said.

The food bank also gets donations of milk from Country Morning Farms Dairy near Warden. On Tuesday morning a local resident drove up to donate boxes of fresh produce. The food bank also receives donations of fresh produce from a supplier near Spokane, Mobley said.

No question, food bank administrators and staff can get a lot of food into a pretty small space. On Tuesday morning two volunteers were maneuvering grocery carts through very narrow spaces, filling boxes with eggs and bread, bags of rice and beans, boxes of cereal, cans of chili and vegetables, bags of fresh potatoes, packages of instant mashed potatoes - even a few packages of vegetable shishkabobs. That illustrates a characteristic of a food bank box - it’s something different every week.

“It varies depending on what we have,” Mobley said.

Pantry staff work to ensure a variety that’s useful for those in need of food assistance.

“There are canned goods, there’s usually a dry product, there’s usually some kind of produce,” she said. “Most of the time there may be some kind of dairy. You’re probably going to get some bakery - bread or something. And then hopefully we have some kind of protein,” she said.

“I would say overall, while it may not have everything, you get quite a bit of stuff. Our boxes are heavy some days,” she said.

At one time, food bank users could make their own selections, but the limited space makes that impossible right now, she said. Food bank operators hope to add more space, she said, starting with upgrading the shed behind the facility.

“Our goal is to allow people to come in and eventually do their own shopping,” she said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.

Othello Food Bank

949 E Main Street

Othello, WA 99344

509-488-6044

Mon.-Weds. 12-3 p.m.

Financial donations may be mailed to: PO Box 152

Othello, WA 99344