Lummi Community Services is more than a basic needs provider.
Nicknamed the “Commod Squad,” a name thought up by Director Elaine Lane, the program has a certain reverence and meaning attached to it within the Lummi community. Displayed on the back of sweatshirts and shirts worn by staff, Assistant Director Raphael “Ray” James said children on the reservation tell him they want to work for the Commod Squad when they grow up.
“It’s just one of those jobs … It’s kind of the way we’ve made a name for ourselves and the impact we have on the community,” he said.
In the Lummi Community Services building on Monday morning, with food stacked on shelving units and in fridges, George Lane Sr., who’s in his 80s, gamely moved food and boxes around the facility.
That same morning, James ran into a former gardener at Lummi Community Services, who he said used to drive him to work because he didn’t have a license at the time.
“He took me under his wing when I started working here,” James said.
It’s a peek into a beautiful, connected community, with many staff members who have worked there for more than 10 years. The Commod Squad’s purpose is to provide food and other support to the Lummi community, but Lane said once people join the squad, they are always part of it.
Hundreds served a week
The squad serves hundreds of people a week through its programs, its biggest being the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. Started in 1977, it’s an alternative to food stamps for income-eligible families living on reservations. Currently, the USDA program at Lummi serves 110 households.
Over the years, the program has improved, James said.
“Before it was all just canned items, canned meats, canned veggies,” he said. “… Now we actually provide ground hamburger, pork chops.”
Lane said the USDA has done a “wonderful job” improving the food selection in the commodity boxes, adding more healthy choices, fresh eggs and better cheese.
Before COVID, the program served 200 households — about 650 people in total. But with pandemic-prompted food stamp increases, many dropped out of the food distribution program. People must choose between the food distribution program and food stamps.
“We’ve lost about 95 households over the last few years,” James said.
Extra funds eventually did come through for the food distribution program, but it came in the form of additional food, and not extra amounts of popular products like butter, James said. But now, James said their numbers are growing again, with two to three households added each month.
In the last few years, the USDA launched a local food program, which has allowed Lummi to purchase local foods directly from local fishermen — currently, they provide salmon and prawns.
The Lummi Food Bank, also run by the Commod Squad, serves roughly 200 households a week, and 300 households on the last Friday of the month when they do their basic needs food bank. That’s when the program also purchases household items to give away.
The Commod Squad also runs nutrition education programs, provides energy assistance to eligible households to supplement heating bills, provides wood to seniors and single parents with young children, and runs a gardening project.
James said last summer, people in line for the food bank would get out of their cars to pick strawberries growing in the raised beds next to the Community Services building.
During the holidays, the food bank gives out holiday baskets. Last week, Lane said they gave out 800 Thanksgiving baskets.
“The impact is huge,” Lane said. “[The community] depends on us.”
On the Commod Squad’s Facebook page, posts are flooded with heart reactions and comments thanking the squad for their work. Recognition has come from outside the Lummi community too: On Nov. 18, Lane and Lummi Commod Squad staff received the Universal Peace Federation’s Ambassadors for Peace award at the Ferndale Public Library.
“We’re honored and proud to serve our people,” Lane said. “We know there’s a tremendous need and we’re here for them.”
