New Poor Turning To Food Bank It’s First Time For Many, Client Survey Indicates

More people are turning to the Spokane Food Bank for emergency help rather than relying on food stamps or welfare.

The latest results in the annual food bank client survey indicate that many people getting emergency food packages are needy for the first time in their lives.

“We don’t think that bodes well for the future,” said Al Brislain, the food bank’s executive director.

Social workers can only guess why people are turning to the food bank first, rather than as a backup to other resources. Some of the newly poor may be reluctant to approach welfare agencies, because they fear being labeled lazy.

Fifteen percent of the recipients came from a household where an adult worked full time, but there still wasn’t enough money to buy food.

Each month the food bank provides more than 12,000 people enough food for three days.

One-third of the people receiving food this year were using the food bank for the first time, according to the survey. That was up 7 percent over last year.

At the same time the number of food bank clients also receiving welfare, food stamps or disability payments dropped.

Meanwhile, a larger portion of food bank clients also are getting food from other sources. They tend their own gardens, receive free school lunches and get help from friends and family.

To get an accurate picture of who uses the food bank, volunteers questioned 560 clients picking up food in August.

People who find themselves without enough food can get an emergency package that should last that household three days. Those packages are distributed through 17 different agencies.

The survey debunks a lot of myths about poor people, Brislain said.

For instance 60 percent of the food recipients had three people or fewer in their household. Only a third of the people asking for food live in a single-parent household.

More than 60 percent of the households had an adult working within the last year.

“These people want help to improve their condition,” Brislain said. “They don’t just want handouts.”

The food bank has conducted the survey for nine years. More alarming than the changing statistics are the ones that stay the same, Brislain said.

Once again, almost half of the clients were children, many of them younger than age 12.

“Those numbers are the same every year. That’s what makes them disturbing,” he said. “That’s not something we should be proud of in this city.”

Food bank officials expect the number of people using their services to rise as the federal government cuts back on welfare programs.

“Everything being talked about (in Congress) is going to affect the clients we serve,” Brislain said.

The food bank itself lost more than 600,000 pounds of food as a result of government cutbacks this year. That was offset by an increase in food drives and corporate donations.

“We are proud we are holding our own,” Brislain said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Spokane Food Bank