Food banks hit hard by gas-price pinch

Every time Loretta Evans drives from her Snoqualmie home to the Hopelink food bank in Carnation, she considers her need for groceries to feed her four children versus the gas it will cost her to get there.

Every week when Hopelink volunteers Ken Coco and Joe Gutierrez fill up their tanks and drive their routes picking up food donated from local stores, they, too, calculate the cost of gas versus their desire to help those in need.

These are just some of the ways that social-service agencies like Hopelink, the largest nonprofit social services group on the Eastside, are feeling the effects from increased prices at the pump.

With the present average for regular gasoline at $3.09 in the Seattle metro area, Hopelink also has been struggling to keep up with demand for gas vouchers, bus passes and bus tickets from its clients, said Shelley Noble, director of family and emergency services for Hopelink.

The agency already has given away nearly all the bus passes it buys at a discount annually from King County's Metro Transit.

"Rising gas prices have been a real cost for us," Noble said. "We're having to take a real look at how we're doing business."

Volunteers at Seattle-based Northwest Harvest, which operates the Cherry St. Food Bank, the state's largest food bank, are also struggling to pay for the gasoline to fuel their volunteer efforts, said Becky Guerra, development director.

The agency, which runs more than 300 food banks throughout the state, has a small volunteer fleet that picks up food donated from grocery stores, but all that driving adds up, she said.

Northwest Harvest is also being hit with increased freight and handling fees from food-processing plants, farmers and canners from which Northwest Harvest sometimes buys food, or receives food at a discount, Guerra said.

Sometimes, clients show up at Hopelink's food banks without enough gas to get home, Noble said. Some clients have had to drop out of adult literacy programs because they can't afford the gas to drive to the class, Noble said.

"And when we start hearing from our loyal cadre of volunteers that some of them can't afford to pick up donated food or do deliveries, we know there is a big problem," Noble said.

So far giving up volunteering isn't an option for Coco and Gutierrez, who are both retired and on a fixed income. The men have regular routes, picking up food donated from Fred Meyer, QFC and Safeway that would otherwise be thrown away.

It's rewarding to know that the produce, meat and pastries they pick up will feed people in need, but paying for the gas to do the work is beginning to eat into their budgets, the men said.

"A couple of months ago, I really had to rethink whether I could keep doing this," Gutierrez said. "It was starting to hurt the pocketbook more than I anticipated. But I decided to curtail my own driving instead. I don't want to quit."

For Northwest Harvest, many farmers or food-processing plants ask that the agency pay a fee to cover the cost of shipping the food, and those fees have been rising to keep pace with fuel costs, Guerra said.

Meanwhile, Northwest Harvest's internal costs for fuel, used for trucks to transport the food between food banks, have shot up in recent years. In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005, Northwest paid $37,469 to fuel its trucks and vehicles. In the fiscal year that ended this June, that cost jumped to $60,724.

"We're budgeting even more of an increase for next year," Guerra said. "It just means we have to work harder on our fundraising. We're not going to compromise the quantity or quality of our food."

But for low-income clients accessing services, there are fewer ways to absorb the rising cost of gas.

For Hopelink clients like Evans, gas prices strain already threadbare budgets. Evans says she often comes home from work on a Friday night determined to park her car until she needs to go back to work on Monday.

"That way I know I have gas to get back to work," said Evans, a single mother who works two jobs. "That means no going to the beach or the things my kids would love to do. They'd love to visit their aunt in Renton, but that's just not in the budget right now."

Another Hopelink client, Stacy Caves, said the increase in fuel costs has been a stumbling block as she attempts to get back on her feet after spending time in a domestic-violence shelter and in treatment for substance abuse.

She initially budgeted $80 a month for gas, but as the months have passed, it has increased to nearly $300 a month. That's almost half the $642 in monthly income she gets in temporary assistance through the state's Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

Much of the fuel is used to shuttle her three children to counseling appointments and school, attend classes herself at Bellevue Community College and drive to a WorkSource Center in Redmond to look for jobs, which DSHS requires for her to receive financial assistance.

"That leaves no room to buy food or pay household bills," Caves said. "I just got a shut-off notice for my water, and all I can do is just keep juggling and juggling my bills."

She says she relies on Hopelink's food and clothing banks to keep her cupboards stocked and her family clothed.

"It's a struggle day-to-day to get where you need to go," Caves said. "It takes $50 to fill up my tank, and when you're low-income, that's a lot of toilet paper, diapers or baby wipes that you could be buying instead."

Rachel Tuinstra: 206-515-5637 or rtuinstra@seattletimes.com