Community Health & Wellness

Food bank in Kitsap County launching online ordering

Diana George was at a resource fair last fall, in the middle of a month-long government shutdown, when a woman approached her in tears. She explained that, like many others on the peninsula, she was a federal worker struggling to afford food for her family.

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Her work schedule, though, prevented her from getting to the food bank. She asked George, development director of the Central Kitsap Food Bank in Silverdale, what she could do.

“And you know what, I didn’t have an answer for her,” George said. “That really told me that we need to change.”   

George said the food bank is moving ahead with plans to develop an online grocery store, similar to those embraced by large retailers. The goal is to improve access for working families and others who cannot get to the food bank during its regular hours, while also increasing collaboration across the West Sound. 

Working and shopping

George describes the project, kickstarted this month by a grant from health-care company Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, as a way to better meet the needs of their primary demographic: Adults who despite working full time but do not earn enough to make ends meet.

“The majority of the people that we serve now are under-employed,” she said. “They’re people trying to stretch their dollars every month. They’re literally making that choice of, ‘Am I putting food on my table or am I going to have heat this month, or can I pay my mortgage?’ ”

Many of those individuals, however, cannot always get to the food bank. The Central Kitsap Food Bank and others in the region are not regularly open to shoppers outside of normal business hours.

Starting an online store will allow the food bank to reduce that barrier by delivering food to more accessible locations. They estimate being able to serve 150 additional families, George said.

Food bank collaboration

A digital store also opens up the potential for more collaboration. George said they envision it becoming a region-wide inventory of available products that can be shared between providers. Fishline in Poulsbo and the Bremerton Foodline have verbally agreed to join once it is operational, George said. They hope to eventually include all food banks in the West Sound.

“Say someone calls and asks if we have baby formula,” George said. “If CK Food Bank doesn’t have any, we can go into the program and say Bremerton Foodline has some.”

George said they have partnered with a software engineer from Poulsbo-based technology company Reprospace to design the system. A prototype should be ready by the fall. They hope to have the system up and running by early 2027.

Its development comes as many food banks across the peninsula have continued to see surges in demand since the end of the pandemic. Central Kitsap, for example, saw a 50% increase in shoppers since the public health crisis. Demand in 2025 was up 20%, with an average of 30 new families per month.

“We’re hoping to move along with the times,” Chris Benson, executive director of the Central Kitsap Food Bank, said of the online store model. “If [food banks] all use this tool it helps us all out eventually.”

Other VMFH grants

Other regional organizations that received grants from Virginia Mason Franciscan Health include:

• Food Backpacks 4 Kids
• Peninsula Community Health Services
• South Kitsap Helpline
• YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties
• Bremerton Foodline
• Alimentando al Pueblo
• Bates Technical College
• Child Care Action Council
• Communities In Schools Of Lakewood
• FamilyWorks
• International Community Health Services
• Leaders in Women’s Health
• LifeWire
• Medical Teams International
• Multi-Service Center
• Phenomenal She
• Plateau Outreach Ministries
• Project Access Northwest
• Shades Of Divinity
• Sound Generations
• St. Leo Food Connection
• Tacoma Housing Development Group (Tacoma Housing Authority)
• Tacoma Community House
• Teen Feed
• The Salvation Army
• United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance – WA
• Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle
• Vine Maple Place