Hunger in the Valley: As community needs rise, food pantries face challenges

Editor’s note: This article is the second and final part in a series exploring food insecurity in North Central Washington.

CHELAN COUNTY – As North Central Washington food banks experience record demand, they are simultaneously facing unprecedented challenges in meeting community needs, such as higher food costs and reduced funding.

“The needs are definitely increasing in terms of just the number of people that are visiting the food pantry, and then, the way that the food pantry is funded is potentially at risk at the same time. So we're seeing more people and sort of uncertainty,” said Upper Valley MEND Executive Director Kaylin Bettinger.

Upper Valley MEND's food pantry, the Community Cupboard, has struggled to keep pace with a record 3,000 visitors to date this year, compared to 1,800 during the same period in 2024. While the food pantry’s traditional service area spans the upper valley and Cashmere, the need goes well beyond, with about 47 percent of its visitors traveling from throughout the region.

The food pantry receives a majority of its commodities through the regional food distributor, with additional food coming in from gleaning excess produce on farms, the Grocery Rescue and Washington state’s Farm-to-Food Pantry programs, and community donations. 

However, these commodities don’t always meet the demand, nor do they provide culturally relevant staples that local households rely on, such as eggs, tortillas, milk, beans. To bridge the gap, Upper Valley MEND sets aside a food purchasing budget each year for the pantry.

Recently, the nonprofit has had to increase its budget to not only meet the rising demand, but also account for the higher cost of food. Last year, Upper Valley MEND increased its food purchasing budget from $30,000 to $75,000. 

Based on the first few months of 2025, it would likely spend about $150,000 this year if it didn’t make adjustments, according to Bettinger. To maintain financial viability, the Community Cupboard has started testing out stricter limits on items it purchases, currently limiting milk, eggs, butter, and cooking oil.

“Everything is more expensive than it used to be, so we try really hard to get the best deals…We always try to support local businesses and local farmers when we can, but we also are balancing, you know, the cost of all of that,” said Bettinger.

Funding Woes

The regional food distributor, Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council (CDCAC), which distributes one to three million pounds of food each year to 20 different pantries like Upper Valley MEND, senior centers, meal sites, and low-income apartments, has also seen a rise in demand throughout the region while experiencing a reduction in funding.

In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut $500 million in funding for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA), effectively discontinuing a Biden-era program that helped food pantries purchase food from local farmers.

The cuts resulted in a loss of $160,000 for CDCAC, which sources produce from five local farmers. The organization is applying to other grants in order to continue the program, albeit at a much smaller scale, said CDCAC Executive Director Alan Walker.

“That was a great program, because we got to support our local farmers too. They really liked it, because it was a way for them to sell their product,” said Walker.

The same month, the USDA cut another $500 million allocated toward The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), a federal program that provides emergency food assistance at no cost to low-income Americans. The CDCAC is set to lose $80,000, about half of its TEFAP funding. While the organization's general TFAP funding remains steady through September, Walker anticipates that if it does continue, it will be a lower amount.

Additionally, $4.7 million in TEFAP commodities expected to be delivered to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) for April through June were cancelled. The delivery was expected to supply Washington food banks, including CDCAC, with three months of federally procured milk, dried plums, dried cranberries, canned chicken, turkey breasts, and chicken breasts, according to the WSDA.

“That number of semiloads has gone from 70 over the next three months down to less than 10,” said Walker. “That's going to have a significant impact on the amount of food that we have.”

The cuts have been compounded by the federal government’s immediate termination of Americorps grant programs in April, which supported volunteer and service efforts in education, public safety, and hunger relief. 

CDCAC facilitated the funding, training, and placement of 15 Americorps members at nonprofit organizations throughout the region. Two of those members served full-time at CDCAC’s Food Distribution Center, supporting a small staff of two full-time and two part-time employees. 

“If we don't have those individuals in our food bank, we can't meet the level of demand,” said Walker.

So far, the organization has been able to retain the two individuals part-time through the end of June. The termination is also being challenged by a multistate lawsuit, which may result in a temporary reinstatement.

At the state level, CDCAC expects to receive more funding through the state’s Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) than in previous years, based on what was approved by the House and Senate, although the governor had yet to sign the proposed 2025-2027 budget at the time this was written. 

“So we know we'll be able to continue to provide the service to our two-county area and the food pantries and meal sites that we support. Unfortunately, it will not be at the quantity of food that we saw in the last calendar year,” said Walker.

New Avenues of Support

While CDCAC is expected to receive more support from the state, it won’t completely fill the gap left in funding. The organization plans to apply for more grants, such as the state’s Resiliency Grant. However, grants are becoming increasingly competitive as programs across the state experience the same cuts. 

It’s also seeking out local support through its Green Bag program, in which participants buy one extra item for the Food Distribution Center every time they shop, which is then collected by volunteers.

“People stepping up and helping out each other here locally, I think, is what I hope will occur…I think food is pretty near to people's hearts. We know we're not going to exist without it,” said Walker.

To add to Upper Valley MEND’s challenges, a grant that has supported the nonprofit’s gleaning program for the last two years is expected to expire mid-summer without renewal. As a result, it is leaning on backyard gardeners to donate their extra produce.

“I used to think, okay to donate produce to the food pantry, I needed to have a lot. Like, they just want to have boxes of stuff. And then I kind of realized, if you just have a few extra tomatoes…They're grateful,” said Leavenworth resident Mara Bohman, who donates produce from her home garden.

The nonprofit also encourages donations to its “area of greatest need,” which allows Upper Valley MEND to allocate funds to the Community Cupboard as needed.

“Because a lot of things are volatile, our services and our funding sources change from time to time, so it allows us to keep things the same, but the funding underneath the surface is changing throughout,” said Bettinger.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media