Community Service Spotlight
Editor’s Note: There are over 100 organizations in Whatcom County working to provide supportive services to those experiencing chronic poverty and its associated effects: addiction, homelessness, incarceration, mental illness, and unemployment. We have contacted the organization appearing in this column and asked them to explain their mission.
by Mark Moder
“She didn’t believe me!” One of our key volunteers was recounting talking to a city councilmember recently about who we are, the work we are doing, and the scale at which we are doing it. The councilmember responded flatly, “That’s not true. If there was an organization like that, helping that many kids in Whatcom County, I would know about it.” Well, we do exist, and while we have just been quietly doing good work, people are starting to find out about Wild Bird.
Wild Bird Charity has nothing to do with birds. It has everything to do with feeding kids. But, unless you work in the schools or received one of our 28,417 bags of food last year, you may not know about us. Wild Bird Charity started as a local nonprofit in 2016 by a group of old friends who made a decision to finish their lives by giving back to their community. They were determined to address poverty issues in Whatcom County and to do it in a manner that addressed gaps in services in the county.
Founders: “Wild Birds”
The founders wanted to be “wild birds” and go wherever the needs were. This is how our Weekend Food Bag Program began. While talking with school employees, we discovered that kids were going hungry on the weekends. Working in conjunction with individual schools, we committed to making sure that children who received free or subsidized meals while at school Monday through Friday, did not go hungry on the weekends. We created a low-barrier program that simply gets food to hungry kids.
Generally, a Family Resource Coordinator (FRC) in a school identifies how many children in their school are experiencing food insecurity on the weekends, and reaches out to us for help. Then each Thursday we provide bags of food with two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners and snacks for these kids to take home each weekend. Each bag of food only costs $3.50 per child, and is comprised of (mostly) healthy, shelf-stable food. A new school could call tomorrow, and we could start delivering food to kids the very next week.
One of my favorite stories from this program is from Christa Shaw, a school counselor at Northern Heights Elementary in Bellingham. She recounted how “a kindergartner and his sister refused to go home for the weekend. They ran from the bus and cried in our arms saying they had no food in the motel. I put the two bags with groceries into their laps and told them to take it home. They immediately stopped crying and put the food in the backpack and mounted the bus.”
Last year, we gave out 28,417 bags of food to local kids, over 64 tons of food. Cumulatively, this program has now provided almost 100,000 bags of food, 600,000 weekend meals and well over half a million snacks. Amazingly, this has all been done with volunteers and one part-time employee. In the past two years alone, our program has grown exponentially, from serving 450 children each week just 24 months ago to over 950 kids today.
The increase has been due to two key factors. First, we are serving more schools. Two years ago we were serving 15 schools, today it is 29. In addition to the schools we serve in the Lynden, Ferndale, Blaine, Lummi, Mount Baker, and Bellingham School Districts, this year we added new schools in Bellingham including: Sunnyland Elementary, Roosevelt Elementary, Kulshan MS, and Options HS, and in Ferndale we added Whatcom Discovery, Vista MS, and Ferndale HS.
photo: Mark Moder
Long-time volunteer Bobby Jones loads some of the 85 yellow-lid bins into a box truck from Fountain Rental each week.
High Cost of Groceries
Additionally, the high cost of groceries continues to put a strain on families to a level we have not seen in a long time, and people are looking for more resources. The state average for the percentage of kids who qualify for free or reduced lunch is 52 percent. While Whatcom County is close to the statewide average, there are six local schools at over 82 percent and two schools with over 96 percent of their students who qualify to receive free/reduced breakfast and lunches. Would it surprise you that there are kids who attend public schools in even the wealthiest neighborhoods here who regularly experience food insecurity?
Our budget will be over $200,000 for the 2024-25 school year, and most of the money simply goes to purchase food. Our board remains fiercely committed to the belief that kids shouldn’t go hungry, and personally donated 22 percent of our food budget last year. We also partner with the Blaine Food Bank who provide us with 100 percent of the food for the students we serve in Blaine. Saint Sophia’s Greek Orthodox Church and the Blaine School District each provide us with free space for storage and for assembly of our food bags each week.
Our operation is very lean, with no office space, no vehicles, and only one part-time employee. We are mostly a volunteer-led and volunteer-run organization. We depend heavily on volunteers from the community with 30-40 people who give one to two hours each week to assemble and deliver the food bags, plan and execute our fundraisers, and help guide the organization.
Having Fun While Helping Others
Our motto is “Having Fun While Helping Others,” and we do have a great time making a difference together! In May, Kathy, one of our volunteers, organized a granola bar drive at Eagleridge Elementary school, where their 5th grade leadership class collected over 3,000 granola bars for Wild Bird, and as a reward got to duct tape their teacher, the Dean of Students, and the Principal to the wall!
Our volunteers come from all walks of life: some are retired professionals, others are young student activists. In a world that’s so divided, it’s amazing to see volunteers from all over the community, from various stations in life, unite together around this issue. And while there are so many things worth arguing about, most people agree that children shouldn’t go hungry. Often, when I ask a volunteer about their origin story, many of them will tell me stories of how they experienced food insecurity as a child and want to give back.
Exists on Local Donations
Wild Bird Charity does not receive any state or federal funds, and exists solely on donations from local individuals, fundraisers, service clubs and foundations. To donate or get involved email wildbirdcharity1@gmail.com or go to www.wildbirdcharity.org.
We are so grateful the generous support we receive from scores of small individual donors and the monies we received last year from the Secord Real Estate Team, Barron Heating, Haggen Foundation, Jerry H. Walton Foundation, Eleanor & Henry Jansen Foundation, First Fed Foundation, Sunrise Rotary, Kiwanis PNW, All American Marine, Bank of the Pacific, WAFD, Enfield Farms, Seeking Health, Women Sharing Hope, Bellingham Noon Rotary, WECU, Passport Rotary, Ferndale Kiwanis, and Stemma Brewery.
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Mark Moder is executive director of Wild Bird Charity and has lived in Bellingham since 2010. He considers it an honor and privilege to have spent his entire career working for nonprofits that help children and teens.
