Blaine Food Bank wraps up 2020 with community support

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Blaine Food Bank spread holiday joy this season, decorating its outdoor center with a 5-foot Frosty the Snowman, twinkling reindeer and a towering Christmas tree fashioned with glittering ornaments.

“We decorate for all the holidays,” operations manager Sally Church said. “Why not have a little bit of magic?”

Over the holidays, Church said she saw about 100 more families visiting weekly, with numbers rising from 400 to over 500 families per week.

Church said that Blaine Food Bank is the second busiest in Whatcom County, after Bellingham Food Bank.

Donations from community members and food providers make feeding local families possible during the pandemic, Church said.

“When Covid-19 hit us, one day it was fine and the next day it was like ‘Uh, oh, we’re in trouble,’” she said.

Food bank operations moved outdoors in March to allow for social distancing. Tents covering the food line have heaters, but Church said they don’t do near enough for people who often wait in cold weather and rain. 

“We didn’t miss a day of distribution,” she said. “We went out and got two tents from Costco and set them up outside. We were able to manage with an absolute minimum of volunteers.”

The food bank’s volunteer base dropped from about 40 to a dozen, Church said. Volunteers do everything from organizing weekend meals for 163 Blaine students to delivering food to over 100 families with immunocompromised members.

“Without the community and the grocery stores, we would have been in really dire circumstances,” she said.

In 2020, the community helped raise about $45,000 to match an anonymous donor’s annual $30,000 pledge.

“We wish it wasn’t like this,” Church said. “We wish we opened the doors and nobody came.”

Donations can be made by mail to Blaine Food Bank, PO Box 472, Blaine, WA 98230, in person at 500 C Street or by visiting their website online at blainefoodbank.org.

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