Washington food banks are gearing up for higher needs for the foreseeable future.

“We haven’t really turned a corner either on the virus or economic recovery,” said Katie Rains, food assistance specialist for the state Department of Agriculture. “We anticipate seeing elevated need across the emergency food system for months, if not years, to come, so we do really see this as a long haul effort.” 

Rains and other speakers provided an update on food assistance needs during a Sept. 10 virtual press conference.

In the previous fiscal year, which ended June 2019, 1.12 million Washington residents sought food assistance. About 2.2 million residents are currently food insecure, Rains said. The state population is about 7.6 million.

That figure could double, she said, with peak demand possible between October and December this year.

Early on in the pandemic, the purchase of food was the crisis, she said. That has begun to shift as donation streams return. Now the larger needs are storage capacity, distribution and staff to move and manage the additional food.

Hunger relief organizations previously tended to use a “food pantry” model, encouraging customers to select products off a shelf as needed, said Derek Sandison, state agriculture director. This was replaced by a labor-intensive pre-packed food box model, and drive-through distribution.

Some of the biggest needs now include cooking oil; hygiene items such as shampoo, toothpaste and toilet paper; culturally appropriate foods such as masa flour; and items to help residents on no-salt or no-sugar diets, said Linda Nageotte, CEO of Food Lifeline, one of three primary non-governmental organizations providing supplies to the state’s food banks.

“When we think about the months to come, we’re really hearing from the agencies we serve about a need to think deeply about the inclement weather we’ll be facing in a very short period of time,” Nageotte said. “And how we can continue to provide drive-through and low-contact distributions at a time when it may be cold and rainy out.”

Sandison hopes Congress will provide additional funding to the states for food security and other recovery efforts.

“We’ll find a way to make it work,” he said when asked what happens without the funding. “Certainly life would be much simpler if we had an additional round of state support from Congress.”

As it enters its third phase, USDA’s Farmers to Families food box program will require contractors to provide a distribution plan, he said.

During the previous phases, the state had less knowledge where food boxes were going and less assurance that they were being received by agencies that could use them most effectively, he said, calling those stages of the program “a little bit of a mixed bag.”

“We’re more confident that they’ll be directed to where we need them to supplement our efforts,” he said. “It’s helping and I think it’s going to help more as we go forward.”