Mike Mowat has pulled off the movable feat that will change the reach of FISH Food Banks of Pierce County.
The 67-year-old Tacoma resident bought FISH its first mobile food bank – a semitrailer he and his friends tricked out with shelves and heat and fans.
A trucker since he was 15, Mowat paid his way through college and built a transport business. He married Janet Runbeck, a nurse and businesswoman of unmatched energy. When they sold the business four years ago, they toyed with retirement. It was a lousy fit.
They fell in with FISH and found a new calling. Runbeck organized a free clinic for people with hypertension and diabetes. Mowat pitches in with construction projects and works the food bank in Midland. He’s on the board of directors.
And he thinks. When he thought about parts of the county without food banks, he thought trucks.
“My idea was to have a pipeline the food kept moving through,” he said.
One semitrailer could do what 10 small food banks could do, and more. There would be no rent, and a diesel bill instead of utilities. The food bank would bring the groceries; local volunteers would help on site. Partners such as schools, churches, bookmobiles and social service providers would coordinate visits.
He went online, found a used furniture trailer in good shape for $5,000, and paid out of his own pocket to buy it – plus another $5,000 to get it to Tacoma.
With donations and volunteer labor, another $45,000 was spent to outfit it. On Friday morning, it pulled into the parking lot at Grace Place Church, 3801 S. Union Ave. It was loaded, washed and ready for its blessing, delivered by Pastor Danny Thomas and his father, Pastor Vinal Thomas.
“Jesus had a lot to do with food,” the elder Thomas said. “He took a little lunch and fed thousands. This ministry is reaching out to be a blessing to the community.”
The church is a hub of social services and, until recently, an on-site food bank.
Danny Thomas figures half of the church members came through the doors because of the food bank, then stayed for the gospel message and the opportunity to serve.
“With the food bank closed, this was kind of a little Bermuda Triangle,” Emergency Food Network executive director Helen McGovern said.
Northeast Tacoma is another. People think it’s affluent, but there’s plenty of need. The closest Pierce County food bank is in Edgewood, eight miles away. (Federal rules bar Pierce County residents from receiving government commodities at the closer food bank in Federal Way.)
FISH expects the mobile food bank to make 10 trips a week.
Northeast Tacoma Elementary School Principal Anne Tsuneish lobbied for, and won, a spot on the schedule. It made its first stop there Friday.
Expect others to follow soon. In parts of East Pierce County and the Key Peninsula, they’ve got the hunger but no resources for a permanent food bank. It’s worse now because of cuts to public transportation, Mowat said.
FISH executive director Beth Elliott is working with people in those communities to see if the mobile food bank would be a good fit for them.
There’s a literal aspect to that. Any site needs enough room to park the trailer safely and provide some cover for clients.
Families will check in at the desk, pair up with a volunteer, roll their carts through and leave with three days’ worth of three meals a day for everyone in the family.
The goods are bone-basic and arranged by food group. Peanut butter, canned tuna and chili in the protein section; canned soup, fruit and tomatoes, dried beans, rice, milk and cereal.
FISH bought the first day’s cargo. There was nothing random. No spices; no condiments; no meats, eggs or dairy products; no fresh vegetables. That will change as donated goods sift in, mostly through food drives and the Emergency Food Network donations that make up half of the FISH inventory. Baby food is on the list of priorities.
Once they’ve worked out the best way to distribute shelf-stable basics, the FISH team will consider adding refrigeration. The generator that powers the lights, heaters and ceiling fans can handle it. It’s a matter of space.
And it’s a matter of the community’s will to support a resource aimed at meeting a growing need.
Kathleen Merryman: 253-597-8677
kathleen.merryman@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/street
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