There are no deposit or withdrawal slips, but the Sumner Food Bank operates much like most financial institutions.

“I tell patrons that we operate just like a bank,” food bank Director Tim Tallon said. “When there’s plenty, you make a deposit; when there is less, you make a withdrawal. It’s as simple as that.”

Tallon assures customers they shouldn’t feel uncomfortable using the food bank.

Although Sumner’s 4,000-square-foot building has experienced a 12 percent increase in clients this year,  donations from the community keep shelves stocked.

Tallon said the Department of Agriculture predicts that figure will increase another 12 percent in 2012. During Thanksgiving, he added the food bank expected to provide food for 300 Sumner and Lake Tapps families.

Donations come in throughout the year, he said. One of the largest area food collection drives, coordinated through Sumner High School, is scheduled to be delivered early next month.

The drive, labeled “Food Bowl,” is a friendly competition between Sumner and Bonney Lake high schools. SHS students collected 25,000 items in 2010.

Students at SHS create their own collection groups within the school, said John Norlin, the SHS leadership adviser.

There’s the “Upstairs Coalition” or “UC,” the “Downstairs Alliance” or “DA,” and the “Outside Rebellion” or “OR,” and they compete by making unifying T-shirts, trick-or-treating for canned food at Halloween, going around the community or by raking leaves.

Tallon said the donations enable the food bank to distribute items from January through May.

Bonney Lake students collected 11,000 items that went to the Bonney Lake Food Bank last year.

Besides the need for food during the holidays, Tallon said the food bank also has provided backpacks stocked with items for children for the past three years. Those students qualify for free or reduced lunch rates at the school.

The number of weekend “backpack meals” has increased during the past three years from 16 to 37 and up to 108 youngsters, Tallon said.

Every Friday, backpacks, identified only with a number, are delivered to schools. They’re filled with enough food to provide each child with two breakfasts, two lunches, two snacks and two dinners for the weekend.

There’s no charge, and the school district does not provide any of the food that’s distributed. REI in Sumner and some local donors provide the backpacks, Tallon said.

Nancy Covert is a freelance reporter for The Herald.