Community Government Health & Wellness

City holds food drive, encourages donations for families with infants

The only way babies can eat is if they have access to breast milk or formula. Without either, they will starve.

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Now, thousands of families in Gig Harbor and around Pierce County who rely on the federal government’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program face the possibility that they won’t be able to feed their babies. Due to the ongoing federal shutdown, those benefits expired on Nov. 1.

Though the state has managed to fund the program for Washington families through mid-November, this doesn’t alleviate the danger these families and their babies face.

Families who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are in a similar boat, though two federal judges ruled Friday that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) must continue to fund the program.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will pay about half of November SNAP benefits, though they could take months to flow to recipients, the department said Monday in a brief to a federal court in Rhode Island.

Benefits delayed

While Mayor Mary Barber said the ruling restoring SNAP benefits “is really, really good news,” it doesn’t mean families who rely on them are out of the woods. It is unclear how quickly SNAP debit cards will be refilled, because the judges gave the federal government leeway on funding. These cards are usually refilled at the beginning of every month. Families who rely on WIC also still do not have court-ordered relief.

To offset the effects of the ongoing federal shutdown, the city has partnered with local organizations to hold an ongoing food drive and encourage monetary donations to help families who rely on SNAP and WIC. The city will post updates to the food drive on its website and its Facebook page.

“We are continuing with the [food drive] program and already have seen such generosity from the Gig Harbor community on this,” Barber said. “I am looking forward to this effort growing and expanding over the next few weeks, unfortunately, because I think that we’re going to need to continue to collect food for those who need it.”

Barber announced the food drive at the Oct. 27 meeting of the Gig Harbor City Council.

“115,000 people in Pierce County, including many children, receive SNAP [and WIC] benefits and more than 11,000 federal workers and their families have gone without a paycheck,” Barber said at the meeting. “That’s almost 15% of the county’s population. I’m sure you share my belief that we need to do what we can to help, and we are.”

Food banks

Barber later told Gig Harbor Now that the number of people throughout Pierce County who are affected by the lack of SNAP and WIC assistance is likely closer to 130,000, when counting spouses. And, until they can access benefits again, many will turn to already overstretched food banks.

“The food banks have already been struggling because of the increase in need, because of cost increases,” Barber said. “And so to compound that already increased need with now the federal workers who haven’t been being paid and the SNAP benefits being delayed or running out, depending on how we want to look at it, it’s just putting even more pressure on those who get food to those in need.”

Gig Harbor Peninsula FISH Food Bank and Food Backpacks for Kids are the primary organizations that provide food support to the Gig Harbor community. Barber said other organizations are stepping in hourly to help with the food drive.

But all the non-perishable food in the world cannot make up for the lack of baby formula.

“The amount of money that will be needed to support our families with WIC is extraordinary. It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars every two weeks [in Pierce County],” Barber said. “I really encourage people to donate to support the formula needs for WIC. That is the only way those babies can eat. They’re so young, they’re not eating solid foods. They’re not eating what’s being dropped off at the food banks.”

Barber said that she encouraged monetary donations over purchasing formula to drop off, because formula expires so quickly and each baby has their own needs.

Washington state moved funding to support state food banks starting Nov. 1.

Drop-off locations

Those interested in donating to the city’s food drive can drop off non-perishable items at the following locations:

Gig Harbor Civic Center, 3510 Grandview St., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays

Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce, 3125 Judson St, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays

Tom Taylor YMCA, 5 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. weekdays; 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays

Harbor Christian Center, 3781 Rosedale St., suite 200, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday

Peninsula Baptist Church, 6127 38th Ave NW, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon Sunday

Due to the highly specific nature of individual infants’ baby formula needs, monetary donations are best. Readers can make donations for families who use WIC to purchase baby formula here, and donations for families who do not use WIC to purchase formula, but remain in need, here.