It is a mission of mercy for the Washington National Guard because COVID-19 not only takes away lives, it takes away livelihoods. The social distancing required to fight the virus has shut down the economy and sharply increased the unemployment rate. The result is new pressure on Washington’s food banks.
“We have seen a huge demand, increase in the number of clients who need us,” said Sue Potter. She’s CEO of Nourish Pierce County.
>>PHOTOS: Washington National Guard helps with food bank distribution
“Awesome, this mission is fantastic. I was excited when we heard what this was. I was, ’All right, we can get behind this,'” said Army Spec Robert Levy, from Vancouver.
She says usually, her food distribution center is staffed by volunteers. But 75% of them are in high-risk groups that need to avoid public activity. So, the Guard was deployed to replace them at the food bank warehouse in Lakewood.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Issac Beagle, of Puyallup, added, “Considering some of the struggles I’ve gone through, it feels good to be able to give back because I’ve had to get some help in the past myself.”
Gov. Jay Inslee visited to thank the Guard members. He’s called up 130 so far. “I’m going to tell you, when you guys show up, the confidence level in the community goes up about 300 %.”
Some of those troops are already in Wenatchee, working in the food bank warehouse there. The governor is clear about what the Guard will not be doing. “They’re a service delivery model right now. They are not involved in law enforcement. They’re involved in providing services to people.”
The Guard members are packing food for 26 food banks, serving at least 66,000 people, 7 % of Pierce County’s population.
“We are so grateful that they’re here. If we had not had them deployed, we would not be able to keep our site open,” said Potter.