What If Everyone Used the Food Bank? Mutual Aid as a Solution to the Hunger Crisis

I'm Alexi.

I’m the name behind the Port Angeles Food Bank’s social media, fundraising campaigns, newsletters, and this blog. And today, I want to talk to you — human to human.

Working at the Port Angeles Food Bank is more than a job for me – it’s a mission. It’s a life purpose. It’s the one thing that I can do to make a difference. Most of the time I love what I do, but sometimes I have to admit, it takes a huge toll on me.

It takes a toll on all of us. Sometimes I just feel like the fight I am fighting is futile. We have all the odds stacked against us that we can even make a dent in the hunger crisis.

We’re not just battling hunger. We’re battling Medicaid cuts, the erosion of the Affordable Care Act, shrinking SNAP benefits, skyrocketing rent, groceries, healthcare, and childcare.

This is not sustainable.

Food Banks carrying the burden of all of this is not sustainable.

Who is the first line of defense when someone loses their job, gets an unexpected medical bill, their car breaks down, or any other major life event happens? The Food Bank.

But today, we’re not just serving people in crisis or people who need help getting back on their feet. We are serving hard-working families who are doing everything they can to make ends meet and are just simply coming up short each and every month.

And it’s not their fault.
They’re not lazy. They’re not irresponsible.
They’re stuck in a system that’s rigged against them.

Let me show you what that looks like.

A Family Trying to Make It

Let’s say your name is Jack. Your wife is Diane.

The median income in Port Angeles is $61,000, but let’s keep it simple and say both you and your wife make $50,000 per year working full-time. 

Together, your take-home pay after taxes is around $7,000/month.

You rent a modest 3-bedroom home in Port Angeles: $2,500/month
Remaining: $4,500

Your two kids — a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old — are in daycare: $2,000/month
Remaining: $2,500

Neither of your jobs offers health insurance. The average cost for a family of four? $2,000/month
Remaining: $500

Utilities: $150
Gas: $400
Phones: $200
Diapers and other child expenses: $200

You’re at -$450 — and you haven’t bought a single bag of groceries yet.

There’s nothing left for savings, a car payment, student loans, or emergencies.
This is what life looks like for a family making $100,000.

And this is why food banks exist, but we cannot fix this problem.

We don’t fix this with food.
We fix it by making healthcare, childcare, and housing affordable.

But those problems are complex. They're tangled in policy, power, and profit. They don’t get solved overnight. 

In the meantime, food banks show up and take the heat.

We get criticized for "enabling" people.
But that criticism is rooted in a deep misunderstanding of what it actually costs to live today.

So yeah, we’re enabling people.
We’re enabling them to:

• Pay the utility bill

• Afford shoes for their kids

• Chip away at their student debt

• Keep gas in the car so they can get to work

We’re enabling people to live. To breathe. To survive.

But here’s the hard truth:
Someone has to pay for the food bank to exist.

And while we shouldn’t have to rely on charities to cover the basics of human survival — we do.

The responsibility for hardworking Americans to be able to survive day to day should not be on charities. We should not have to ask people who are struggling to make ends meet to help other people who are struggling to make ends meet afford food.

But that is exactly what we HAVE to do.

I have to write another letter, another social media post, another email to ask you to give more. 

I don’t want to ask you for more.

I want policy change.

I want a government that works for its people instead of corporations.

I want childcare subsidies.

I want affordable groceries.

I want hard working Americans to not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from after they put in 40 hours a week at work.

I’m mad. And you should be, too.

But here’s the part where I give you a little hope.
Here’s where I ask you to be the change.

Sitting around being mad about the cards we have been dealt is not going to feed our community. But something radical, something exciting, something community driven will.

MUTUAL AID.

This is how we fight back.
This is how we build something better as a community.

We stop treating food banks like charity. We start treating them like infrastructure.

Imagine a community where everyone uses the food bank.
Not just in crisis. Not just when things fall apart.
But as a normal part of life — a shared resource that helps everyone.

Because when you use the food bank even if you don’t really need to — maybe just to stretch your grocery budget — and pair that with a small monthly donation or a give-what-you-can contribution, you do something powerful.

You make the system more sustainable, and you help break the stigma. Here's how:

1. You normalize it.
   When everyone uses the food bank, there’s no shame in needing help. We stop seeing it as a last resort and start seeing it as a shared resource — like schools or libraries.
   

2. You strengthen it.
   Small, regular donations from people “getting by” create stability. That means less reliance on grants and donations and more ability to plan ahead and serve with dignity.
   

3. You build solidarity.
   Mutual aid means we’re all in this together. You give when you can. You receive when you need. Nobody is less-than. Everyone matters.
   

This is the future I want to build.

A future where food banks are places of community, not crisis.
Where the lines blur between helper and helped.
Where dignity isn’t something you earn — it’s something you’re owed as a human being.

Let’s build that future, together.