More Than Bags

Before I left for the day, I paused in thanks. Some things are best explained through photos, but this is much more than an image with grocery bags.

These bags represent families in our area that have yet to have access to food simply because they work during the mid-day hours all foodbanks are open. 

These bags represent hard-working people that have struggled to make do, fighting to stay in their homes, keep their cars, and pay for their medication. 

These bags represent many community members dealt a devastating blow by our area's inflated cost of living.

These bags represent people trying to keep the home they live in, knowing that losing it will mean they can never afford a home again in a region that has priced them out. 

But thanks to ARPA funds awarded through Pierce County Council and the foresight of Councilmember Dave Morell, these bags also represent something more promising: 

Customized orders that our Market Members place online in their native language and then pick up 24/7 at a Market Locker. Up to 50 orders daily, five days a week, are fulfilled from our locker in Buckley, Washington (in addition to the 150 households visiting The Market daily to shop).

Food access solutions are changing the landscape of our community’s vitality, and we are getting ready to roll out five more by the end of the year in other communities. 

It’s hard to explain how thankful our organization is to the Pierce County Council for seeing this innovation for what it is and will become.

- Stacey