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As demand soars, Spokane Salvation Army gifted semi truck full of food thanks to LDS partners

Missionaries Nolan Jacobs and Nicholas Farmer of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints load the shelves of the Salvation Army food pantry with canned goods from a truckload donated by the Latter Day Saints church and delivered Tuesday to the Salvation Army’s facility on Indiana Avenue and Lidgerwood Street in Spokane. (Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review)
By Nina Culver For The Spokesman-Review

The Spokane Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints answered a call for help from the Salvation Army this week, arranging for a semitruck full of nonperishable food to be delivered from Salt Lake City to stock the nearly empty shelves at the organization’s food bank that serves the residents of Spokane and Stevens counties.

The 40,000 pounds of food arrived at a time when the number of families using the food bank has spiked. It included protein items and pantry foods that families can use to make complete meals – things that the food bank has been short on for weeks, said Salvation Army Capt. David Cain.

In February, the Salvation Army Food Bank was serving 1,318 families each month. By the end of June, that had more than doubled to 2,898 families per month. Cain said he thinks inflation and the end of the COVID food stamp boost played a role in the increase.

“I know there are probably a plethora of issues combined,” Cain said. “We haven’t seen a spike like this in some time.”

During a recent staff meeting, the food bank manager said that the food bank was critically low on food. Another staff member reached out to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for help. The two organizations had partnered together during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We knew who to reach out to,” Cain said. “Last time we were in need, they helped us.”

Helping others with food needs is part of the church’s mission, said Spokane Stake President Darrell Mosley.

“The church owns what we call church farms, where we grow our own food,” he said.

The church also owns canneries where church members work to process everything from vegetables to meat to jam.

“Everything is canned so it makes it shelf-stable,” Mosley said.

While much of the food goes to food banks run by individual Stakes around the country, some is also donated to other nonprofit organizations. It was no problem to quickly get a shipment together for the Salvation Army when they asked for help, he said.

“We have a good relationship with them,” he said. “We really like what the Salvation Army is trying to do. They are trying to help the community.”

Readying a shipment of 40,000 pounds of food typically takes up to a month, depending on the stock the church has available, Mosley said. This shipment was readied in only a couple weeks.

“We rallied around them as quick as we could,” he said.

When the truck arrived Tuesday morning, a group of church missionaries was on hand to unload it, said Salvation Army Communication Specialist Brian Pickering. Much of it was put directly on the shelves for immediate distribution.

“They were stacking things left and right,” he said.

By June, the Salvation Army was distributing an average of about 10,500 pounds of food a day. While 40,000 pounds of food does not seem like much compared to that, it comes at a critical time of the year when donations are typically lower.

“It won’t last long, but it will help greatly,” Pickering said.

The Salvation Army is grateful for the assistance, Pickering said.

“It was a wonderful morning all around,” he said.