WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Whatcom County Council members are urging County Executive Satpal Sidhu to do more to support food security in the county.
The council voted unanimously during their evening meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 22, to pass the food banks plight onto the county executive’s office.
Mike Cohen of the Whatcom County Food Bank Network (WCFBN) came to the council in July asking for $2 million in funding.
The food bank system has seen more stress in the last few years according to Bellingham Food Bank Marketing Coordinator Stephanie Sisson, who spoke to My Bellingham Now about this problem last December.
“In 2021, we were serving 1,700 household visits every week and in 2022, we were serving 3,500 household visits every week. So that number more than doubled in the span of a year,” Sisson said. “Now, we are serving over 5,000 households every week.”
Problems with getting food to the food bank compound the high volume of visitors, and the county council met with agricultural representatives before drafting the resolution.
Council member and cosponsor on the resolution John Scanlon acknowledged the difficulties the council heard from food producers during the meeting on Tuesday.
“There are challenges in our community,” Scanlon said. “We need to elevate on these issues. We need to talk about these issues. We need to coordinate on these issues and so that is why we pulled this all together.”
The full $2 million in funding may not come as the county faces a deficit that put the county under a hiring freeze just a few months ago.
