Salvation Army food pantry celebrates expansion in Bellingham’s Birchwood neighborhood

Access to food availability and services is improving in Bellingham with the renovation and expansion of The Salvation Army Bellingham family services building and client-choice food pantry in the Birchwood neighborhood.

Local community members gathered Monday to celebrate the dedication of the space and provide tours to the public.

“When you arrive at this building hungry and needing food, you’re not just going to leave with groceries,” said Salvation Army Lieutenant Colonel Cindy Foley at the dedication ceremony. “You’re going to leave here with a relationship, with people who care about you and your family, who are willing to walk alongside you and give you hope maybe in that moment when it’s just hard to believe in yourself.”

The new center, at 1515 Birchwood Ave., served as a Salvation Army thrift store in recent years before being converted into a traditional food bank and now transitioning to a grocery store model.

The self-serve style of the pantry allows food bank users to shop around the space like a grocery store, picking up items for themselves and their families. All food is free to pick up.

The pantry offers fresh produce, baked items, canned goods and frozen food. More ready-made meals are available for those with limited access to a kitchen space. The pantry also offers food for cats and dogs. Salvation Army staff members told The Bellingham Herald much of the food is donated from local grocery stores.

“We now have, in essence, a Salvation Army grocery store where people can come in here with a variety of needs, some people coming from humble circumstances, some people literally using their last bus token because there’s nothing at home and they don’t know where they’re going to turn next,” Lt. Colonel Foley said.

Local food banks have seen the need increase over the last several years. This location has historically fed about 3,000 families each month, distributing about 1.5 million pounds of food in the last 12 months. In 2022, the food bank served more than 50,000 people.

The food bank will serve a hyperlocal need in Bellingham’s Birchwood neighborhood, which became a food desert when it lost its grocery store in 2016.

“I want people to know that nobody should go hungry and anyone is welcome here,” said Salvation Army Family Services Director Liz Hicks.

The food bank is open 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.

Donations of perishable and non-perishable food items as well as new, unused hygiene items are accepted at the Salvation Army food pantry from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday.