Pierce County provides $500K to food banks, homeless shelters in coronavirus response
Pierce County Council approved $500,000 of emergency funding for food banks and homeless shelters on Tuesday.
The ordinance immediately provides $250,000 to food banks and $250,000 to homeless shelters.
The head of Pierce County’s Emergency Food Network, Michelle Douglas, told the council food banks are seeing unprecedented use.
Last year, they served over 1,300,000 Pierce County residents. Monthly visits are expected to increase four to six times the average with the economic impacts of the coronavirus.
Food, entertainment, retail and small business employees already have been laid off or had hours reduced. Reliance on food banks will only grow as the pandemic continues, Douglas said.
At food banks, many volunteers are over age 60. Half of the volunteers at Nourish Food Bank cannot come in because of compromised health or are already sick, executive director Sue Potter told the council.
Douglas said food banks need funds to help cover the costs of food and paying for more labor.
Council member Marty Campbell, who sponsored the bill, said this is the first of many actions the council will take.
“This one is about the basics: food and shelter,” he said on the dais.
The funding for the food banks will come from money accrued while budgeted positions are vacant. The homeless shelter funding will be pulled from a special account in the fund reserves.
The bill also named priorities for the council in coming weeks, like completing a broadband study for those stuck working from home with limited or no internet access, reviewing options for court proceedings like night court because of a backlog of cases and suspending data collection on food banks due to limited resources.
Emergency legislation requires a supermajority, or five of seven votes. The bill passed 6-0, with Council member Jim McCune absent.
