How We Got Here

The Fife Food Bank began in the 1980's at the Fife Presbyterian Church.  In 1986 the Associated Ministries of Tacoma-Pierce County formed the FISH (Friends In Service to Him) food banks of Pierce County. The Presbyterian food bank joined FISH.  In 1992 Vic Clark wanted the food bank to move and Father O'Brien, Pastor of St. Martin of Tours Church agreed to have it occupy the small building on the church grounds.

The volunteers moved all the food plus one freezer and one refrigerator to the new location. There were 10 volunteers who served about 50 families a month; at Thanksgiving and Christmas they gave out about 30-40 holiday "baskets".  Today we have about 48 volunteers and serve about 650 families (nearly 3,000 individuals) each month. We have continued the tradition of handing out special bags of food for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays: in 2024 we handed out 549 "baskets."

Although the FISH food banks were stocked primarily by donations and local food drives, FISH arranged for the food banks to order food monthly through them at wholesale prices.  In 1988 the Emergency Food Network (EFN) was established in Tacoma to serve about 70 area food banks. Today, the state legislature budgets funds for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) that are distributed across the state to participating food banks based on the number of guests served annually. In Pierce county, EFAP funds are administered by EFN.  These funds constitute about 23% of our operating budget, for food purchases.  

We have no salary costs since all workers are volunteers.  St Martin of Tours Church covers the cost of our building, utilities and any maintenance needed. They also let us use their 501(c) 3 status and are the financial managers for the food bank.  While they are the financial managers, they do not govern or in any way dictate how the Fife Milton Food Bank operates.  Additionally, our volunteers are from across the communities we serve and from many religious backgrounds.

The current conditions are putting extreme pressure on our resources, but physical and human.  For the first time on a non-holiday pick up day at the food bank, our guest count reached 100 families served.  That is double our normal day's guest count.

Source: Fred Mitchell, Fife, WA

We Need Your Help

Our guest numbers are climbing at a rate never seen before nor expected.  This now forces us to increase the food rescues (picking up food from area businesses) we need to have enough food on hand to serve the increase.  A food rescue requires one or two volunteers go to a store with their pick-up truck to receive the food donation.  This means that we desperately need MORE VOLUNTEERS who own a pick-up truck and are willing to do food rescues.  Rescues are typically done in the morning (about 8am) and typically take no more than 1.5 hours. If you are able to help with food rescues on one or more days a month, please contact us by phone (253-922-0960) or via Email (fmfb2025@gmail.com)