The Anacortes 100 food bank is an excellent organization. I highly recommend it to folks who are…read morestruggling to meet their day to day food needs for themselves or for their families.
Let's look at the basic fundamentals of how it works at Anacortes 100 food bank.
First, you will show up once a week on either a Tuesday or a Friday from 10am-2pm. If you are new, next to the sign in sheet is a sign up sheet. Fill that out and give it to a volunteer behind the door. Rarely will a live person be out in the front to check you in. You will just sign in on the sign in sheet.
Second, you will grab your bag of food. If you have a large family, they may give you two bags. Just ask how many you get if you are new to the program and have a large family. I have a family of 2, and I get one bag. Sometimes, they will have extra meat or dairy category additions, and a volunteer will ask you if you want it or not. This might take the form of milk, eggs, pork, or chicken.
Third, after receiving your bag, check out the isle of bread and produce. Take what you can use. As far as I know, there is no official limit, but just keep in mind that there are others in line as well that need to have something to pick from. In other words, take as much as you need right now and not as much as your big empty freezer at home can take if you see what I mean. The produce is often past its prime, but it is sometimes usable. You just have to be dedicated to picking through it and be willing to cut off bad spots to eat the rest of the nutritious fruit or veggie. Sometimes there are extras also located on the two isles next to the food door, and you can usually take as much of that as you can use as well. The last example I remember is coconut water in several flavors.
Fourth, there are shopping carts that you can take down to your car if you end up grabbing more than you can carry. Just be sure to return them, as there is no volunteers available to find and return missing carts.
Once again, you can go once a week on either Tuesday or Friday. There is usually some special distribution for Thanksgiving and Christmas. For Thanksgiving this year, they handed out a food bag and a $25 gift certificate for meat at the local Safeway. What you are able to actually get each year for Thanksgiving or Christmas greatly depends on the funding they receive and the donations of local establishments. This may not be a thing you can count on next year, but I was blessed to have it happen to me this year. Thank you Anacortes 100!!
Let's talk briefly about the line. It is usually longest in the morning when it opens as far as my experience goes. The line does not move very fast as there is really only enough room inside the small establishment for one or two clients at a time. Each client can take up to 5-10 minutes at times. This being the case, I usually come a little later than 10 so that I do not have to wait in the cold (more of a factor now in the winter).
Last item I want to discuss is commodities. These are government surplus items that are given out once a month by the food bank. Usually this is an extra bag worth of food (at least it was in my experience so far, in truth, it probably varies in quantity). They give these out on the first Friday of every month. This is the only day that it might be worth trying to get there early as they do run out.
I hope this post alleviates any fears of what it will be like going to the food bank and how its process works. At least, this is what I usually hated in going to new food banks was all the uncertainty of how to sign up and how it all works.
I also hopes this inspires locals to contribute to this local cause through donations of food and money. It serves many individuals and families throughout Anacortes with basic necessities to get through the week with at least some food.
Thank you Anacortes 100 for your good work!
