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Food bank $1.7M over budget; county stalls on support

Bellingham gives $500k in ARPA funds

Volunteer Ev Bethke, surrounded by boxes and bags full of food, sorts food at the Bellingham Food Bank while her colleagues do the same nearby.
Volunteer Ev Bethke sorts food at the Bellingham Food Bank in May 2022. Demands for Whatcom County's food bank services have soared since 2022, officials say. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
By Ralph Schwartz Local Government Reporter

The director of the Bellingham Food Bank appealed to the Whatcom and Bellingham councils for rescue funds over the past week, as inflation and skyrocketing demand are pushing the food bank far beyond its 2022 budget.

In a unanimous vote on Monday, the City Council came through with $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the food bank. The County Council held off last week, with council members asking questions about how their $500,000 contribution might be spent.

Food Bank Executive Director Mike Cohen told the council the money would be shared with the nine smaller food banks in the county.

“I personally would like to see more information both on where we’re at with ARPA spending and what this might pull ARPA dollars from,” council member Tyler Byrd said during the County Council’s June 21 meeting.

Food Bank Executive Director Mike Cohen standing behind plastic film meant to cover the crates of vegetables in front of him.
Food Bank Executive Director Mike Cohen is seeking federal pandemic relief funds from the Bellingham and Whatcom County councils to partially make up a $1.7 million budget shortfall. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)

Byrd added that he also wanted information from the food bank on how the money would be spent, “how many people it’s going to help and what the long-term strategy is.” 

“We have a lot of expenses coming up,” Byrd said, “so I’m not sure how we’re fitting everything in.”

Council member Kathy Kershner agreed it would be prudent to hold off on committing ARPA funds to the county’s food banks until council learned from county Executive Satpal Sidhu how much of the federal rescue money the county had left to spend.

In an interview, Cohen said he found the County Council’s line of questioning to be frustrating. 

“They say, ‘We need more information,’” Cohen said. “They’re not being clear about what more information they want … ‘How much more food will a half-million purchase?’ My answer is, it’ll purchase a half-million dollars more food.”


Use of food banks across the county increased dramatically after people started to feel safe returning to public spaces as the COVID-19 threat waned, Cohen told the County Council. From February 2020, before pandemic restrictions began, to April 2022, the number of visitors to the Bellingham Food Bank more than doubled, from 17,000 to 35,000.

The Bellingham Food Bank budgeted $1.7 million in 2022 for food purchases. Given the soaring demand and grocery inflation at 11.9% nationally in May, Cohen told the Bellingham City Council on Monday he expects to spend $3.4 million this year on food.

Cohen said during the interview that the Food Bank will highlight this year’s extreme need when it makes its regular end-of-year fundraising pitch. For now, he said, he would be happy to receive whatever government support might be available.

“Five hundred thousand dollars would be a huge lift, and we’d be very thankful for it,” Cohen told the City Council before its vote, “but you’re absolutely right that we could put good use to a larger allocation of ARPA or other funds like that.”

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