By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – The Port Angeles Food Bank’s effort to purchase the building they’re now leasing took a giant leap forward this week.
The House Appropriations Committee in our nation’s capital advanced major funding to support the Food Bank’s Nourish to Flourish program when $900,000 in federal funding was included in the 2022 agriculture appropriations bill.
Congressman Derek Kilmer, who grew up in Port Angeles, led the effort to secure funding for the project through the House Appropriations Committee’s Community Project Funding process.
Port Angeles Food Bank Director Emily Dexter says she spoke with Kilmer’s staff this week.
“It is definitely moving through the right channels. I know, even though it’s not a done deal yet in the final budget, I think it’s exciting to know that our was Representative is really working for the community. I know that he is working very hard to make this happen for us. Timing-wise, I think he said, you know, we might know something around November.”
In 2020, the Port Angeles Food Bank supported over a dozen area food pantries serving 5,000 households on the Olympic Peninsula. They moved into the new space with expanded storage space, additional freezer space, and room to create an open area market where customers will be able to shop for themselves if they like.
Click here for Food Bank hours of operation.
Photo courtesy of PA Food Bank: Director Emily Dexter gives Rep. Kilmer a tour of the facility.