Food bank volunteers keep Mukilteo families fed for holidays

MUKILTEO — At the Mukilteo Food Bank, the families keep coming. So the volunteers keep the food coming.

About 75 people help the food bank make distributions twice a month. They range in age from high school freshmen to 20-year retirees, and all took time out of their holiday week to make sure families in their community were fed. The food bank has no paid employees.

On Monday, Roger Long directed traffic. A retired accountant, he has volunteered with the food bank for more than seven years and is now its treasurer.

In his time there, he's seen an increase in need. Once the COVID-19 pandemic began, the amount of people using the food bank skyrocketed, and the numbers haven't let up since.

"We're at about 520 families a month," Long said. "That's close to double what we had a year and a half ago."

As of 2022, about 9% of people in Snohomish County were "food insecure," meaning they lacked consistent access to enough food to live a healthy, active life. Those volunteering Monday said they had never seen so many cars show up in one day, likely due to the holiday rush. The food bank put together more than 300 bags of "staples," filled with vegetables, fruit, bread and other essentials. This week, as part of Thanksgiving celebrations, everybody got a turkey, as well.

The food bank was officially incorporated in 2002, but had been operating as an informal food pantry since 1979. The nonprofit donates over $100,000 worth of food per year.

On Monday, the organization's staging room bustled. The food bank, which serves families in the Mukilteo School District, works like a drive-thru, where families wait in their cars as volunteers bring food to them. Inside, more than a dozen volunteers ran back and forth down tiny corridors, filling bags, relaying the amount of food needed for the upcoming families.

Dorothy Duff helps scan barcodes to make sure families get the right amount of food. Holly Ripley leads the "produce department," helping decide how much food is distributed in each bag. Chris Eastwin, who works at the nearby company Pacific Seafood, packed bags full of food. Lisa Edwards is the volunteer coordinator, a job Long said is "like herding cats."

Patty Mills helped look over a table outside, where people could pick up miscellaneous items, like stuffing, cake mix and cereal. She started volunteering 10 years ago because she and her husband attend Mukilteo Presbyterian Church, where the food bank is based.

"I think it's very important," Mills said. "I've never seen lines like this before. This is really a crowded venue."

It was 14-year-old Lucas Rudzinski's job to give the turkeys to drivers in line. A freshman in high school, he started volunteering at the food bank when he was 12, after his grandfather convinced him to help.

"I think it's important to give back to your community and help out," Rudzinski said. "Some people are more fortunate than others."

You can find a list of food banks in Snohomish County at snohomishcountyfoodbankcoalition.org.