The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Beginning next Tuesday, (June 1), Help Warehouse staff will resume food distribution to Wahkiakum County.

Help Warehouse, a program of Lower Columbia Community Action Program (CAP), is the lead agency for Cowlitz and Wahkiakum food banks, receiving state Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) funds to purchase and distribute food to food banks in the two counties.

The distribution was suspended in October of 2009, when the Helping Hand Food Bank moved from the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Cathlamet. The food bank had been operating under the church’s nonprofit status (the state requires that any food bank receiving state funds have nonprofit status.)

The Helping Hand food bank has since been seeking a new location and a new sponsor with a 501c(3) nonprofit status.

The food bank’s board now has a new location—at the old River Rat Tap Tavern at the foot of Broadway, at the municipal dock—but is still without a sponsor.

CAP will assume responsibility for purchasing and distributing food to Wahkiakum County residents. Each Tuesday, the Help Warehouse truck will be at the River Rat Tap from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will distribute food with the assistance of Helping Hand volunteers.

Help Warehouse Program Manager Lois Shelton has state EFAP funds that are earmarked for Wahkiakum County which need to be spent by June 30.

The board of directors of The Helping Hand Food Bank have applied for their own nonprofit status.

For more information, call Help Warehouse at 360-425-3430 (or 1-800-383-2101) ext 281.

The Helping Hand Food Bank in Cathlamet is open every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.