From ‘dire’ to thriving, Bonney Lake Food Bank sees massive increase in donations, support
The last time I spoke with Jenson Isham, the Bonney Lake Food Bank was in “a pretty dire situation,” he recalled last week.
Donations had plummeted, the nonprofit’s long-time home was deteriorating, and the need for its services in a rural but quickly developing corner of Pierce County were growing.
Serving thousands of families every year, as the food bank had grown to do over the last decade, was becoming harder and harder, Isham said.
Thankfully, he told me this week, that’s no longer the case.
Isham, who back in May was a relatively new member of the Bonney Lake Food Bank’s board of directors, is now the board’s president.
Over the last seven months, he’s watched his community step up in a very big way.
“That news story has changed a lot for us,” Isham said. “I think what it really shows is the community cares, they maybe just had to be reminded a little.”
Need proof? The holidays provided one for Bonney Lake and its humble food bank, tucked in a nondescript strip mall not far from Lake Tapps, a deli and a day spa.
As is tradition, Bonney Lake Mayor Neil Johnson launched an annual food drive in late October to gear up for the holiday season. Typically, Isham said, the effort brings in about 5,000 pounds of food.
This year, Johnson ambitiously set a goal of 6,000 pounds.
That was nothing.
By the time the dust settled, Isham said this week that more than 24,000 pounds of food donations had arrived from the effort.
All told, through the holidays, the Bonney Lake Food bank received more than 30,000 pounds of food, he said.
“It’s just crazy the amount of support we’ve seen,” Isham said, noting that it’s come from all corners of the community, from individuals to area schools and businesses.
“Things have really turned around,” Isham said.
For Bonney Lake, the surrounding area and the wide variety of individuals the food bank serves, the change of fortune represents a very good thing.
In addition to seeing an increase in food and much-needed financial donations, the food bank’s board also recently mapped out a long-term strategic plan. With support from the city, there’s talk of finding a new, improved location for the food bank in the coming years.
The food bank also is looking for a new executive director, after long-time director Stew Bowen stepped down earlier this year. Isham is hopeful a new director will soon be found to lead the food bank into the next decade.
All of it is important, because while Isham acknowledged that more rural areas, like Bonney Lake, don’t always come to mind when people think of the need for a food bank, that’s not because the need is any less real.
“When you think of a food bank, you often think of the inner city, or places like Tacoma, but the need is just as great, if not greater, in rural areas,” Isham said. “Housing prices are going up, and people are being pushed out of the city or moving here by choice. A lot of times, they have to make hard decisions, like, ‘Do I buy food or do I pay for that medicine?’ I think that’s the majority of our clients.”
Homelessness is another societal issue often associated with bigger cities, but it’s reality here, too, Isham said, and the food bank regularly serves individuals facing it.
Isham said that many who regularly visit the food bank are “people who kind of live on the margins a little bit, for lack of a better way to say it.”
Isham recalled a mother who visited not long ago, delighted to find a birthday cake among the offerings.
Her child was celebrating a birthday, Isham said, and the mother was trying to decide whether to spend what little money she had on a cake or a present.
Because of the Bonney Lake Food Bank — and the community support it receives — she was able to do both.
“Stories like that happen all the time at the food bank,” Isham said.
“These people are our neighbors, and we’re just doing what we can to help support them.”
