12 Things People Don’t Know About Hunger in Clallam County: #2

#2 Rural Hunger Comes With Unique Challenges

When we talk about food insecurity, a big part of the conversation is often the cost of groceries. And this is for good reason. When food prices rise faster than household incomes, putting meals on the table becomes increasingly difficult.

But in Clallam County, the challenge doesn't always end with being able to afford food.

Sometimes, the biggest challenge is finding nutritious food in the first place.

Clallam County is a large, rural region where communities are spread across the Olympic Peninsula. While residents in Port Angeles and Sequim have access to a range of grocery stores and community resources, people living in smaller communities like Joyce, Forks, and Clallam Bay face different challenges.

In these communities, distance is only part of the problem. Access to services and resources can be limited, too. When grocery options and other essential services are harder to reach, meeting basic needs can require more time, planning, and money. For households already struggling to make ends meet, these additional barriers can make food insecurity even harder to overcome.

For residents in rural communities across Clallam County, accessing groceries can mean traveling long distances, relying on a vehicle that isn't always reliable, or coordinating transportation around someone else's schedule.

These challenges are especially difficult for people who are already managing tight budgets, working multiple jobs, caring for children, or living on fixed incomes.

Transportation comes with costs of its own. Gas, vehicle maintenance, and unexpected repairs compete with rent, utilities, healthcare, and other necessities. Longer trips also require time that many people have little of to spare.

And when a community has limited nearby resources, there may be fewer alternatives when something goes wrong. A vehicle breakdown or an unexpected expense can make an already difficult situation even harder to manage.

These are not hypothetical circumstances. They are real barriers for people living in our region, and they are an important part of understanding what food insecurity looks like in rural Clallam County.

Having enough money for groceries does not necessarily mean having reliable access to them. When transportation and local resources are limited, geography itself can become another obstacle to meeting basic needs.

Addressing rural food insecurity requires solutions that reflect the realities of rural life.

That's one reason the Port Angeles Food Bank operates its Mobile Market. Rather than requiring everyone to travel to a central location, the program brings groceries directly into communities throughout Clallam County.

The Mobile Market now makes a monthly stop in both Joyce and Forks, helping bring food access closer to residents who might otherwise face additional barriers getting the groceries they need.

These stops are part of a broader effort to make food more accessible across our county. They recognize that providing food assistance means little if the people who need it cannot reasonably reach it.

Bringing food into a community doesn't eliminate every challenge residents face. But it can remove one barrier, reduce the burden of traveling for groceries, and help households stretch already limited resources.

Food insecurity doesn't look the same everywhere. The challenges facing a family in Port Angeles may differ from those facing a senior in Joyce, a working parent in Forks, or a household in Clallam Bay.

There is no single solution that addresses every circumstance.

But we can start by recognizing that geography matters. Access to food should not depend on how close someone lives to a grocery store, whether they have reliable transportation, or how much time and money they can afford to spend traveling for essentials.

That means listening to rural communities, understanding the barriers residents encounter, and bringing resources closer to the people who need them.

At the Port Angeles Food Bank, our Mobile Market is one way we work toward that goal. Every stop is an opportunity to make groceries more accessible and help ensure that living outside a larger population center doesn't mean being left out.

Where someone lives shouldn't determine whether they can put food on the table.