Federal Budget Screws Over Local Foodbanks and Shelters

SHARE, King County's largest indoor shelter provider, announced yesterday that it had raised the funds to keep its 15 indoor shelters open for one more week, thanks to a $5,000 donation from St. Joseph Parish.

"We're grateful to them and to all of the individuals who've contributed what they can," said Treasa Sides, a spokeswoman for SHARE, when reached by phone.

On Monday, SHARE announced that it would be forced to close its shelters within a week unless $44,000 in donations from the community. Why the rush? Two weeks ago, roughly 30 King County nonprofits (including SHARE) were notified that millions in dedicated federal funding for 2,500 emergency food and shelter programs around the country—money that these organizations had counted on for the last 28 years—had been drastically reduced in the federal budget, and cut altogether in King County.

"Nobody saw this coming," explains Jared Erlandson, a spokesman for United Way of King County, which helped facilitate the annual grant. "We were expecting there to be a reduction in the dollars granted, but no one predicted the funding would be cut entirely."

Which is why nonprofits are now scrambling. "The Food Lifeline will have to cut 100,000 meals they serve in the county," Erlandson says. "Everyone is cutting or asking for help."

Even SHARE, which is grateful for St. Joseph's donation, says it's far from enough. "This only buys us one more week of bus tickets," says Sides. Without bus tickets, the 500 homeless people that SHARE serves can't access their facilities, which means they must close. "We're basically living week to week. It's very stressful."