BLOG

AmeriCorps VISTA Member Bea works with GoodRoots Northwest, a food pantry operating out of Pierce County, Washington that has redefined the concept of a food pantry all together. Beginning it’s life as the Bonney Lake Food Bank, GoodRootsNW has since transitioned to become a fully online food pantry. How does an online food pantry work? Well, this food pantry is supported by refrigerated, remote pickup lockers sprinkled throughout the county allowing customers to place orders online and pickup on their schedule. This system is designed to reduce the systemic and logistical barriers that often make accessing food unsafe, inaccessible or inconsistent—particularly for marginalized community members who already experience vulnerability.

For Bea, this mission is personal. With a dynamic disability, rapidly changing medical needs disrupt their daily life through barriers such as unstable housing, income and access to transportation. Living with a chronic illness has defined their relationship with food, both through unmet nutrition needs and access issues . The average foodbank model is inaccessible to folks like Bea struggling with transportation, daytime unavailability and health restraints. Their lived experience informs their work, emphasizing privacy, reliability, and dignity in food access systems, particularly for individuals facing compounded vulnerabilities.

The need for food access points in Pierce County is plain as day. Approximately 8.4% of the county’s residents, over 75,000 people, lack consistent access to nutrient dense foods (Feeding America, 2024). As stated earlier, food insecurity disproportionately affects marginalized communities. Households with children face higher insecurity rates, veterans often live on fixed incomes with service-related disabilities, and mobility or health constraints affect roughly 10% of residents under 65 and over 16% of adults 65+ (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023).

A critical barrier to food access is transportation, with over 40% of food-insecure households reporting it as a primary obstacle to attaining food or applying for assistance. This is particularly true in suburban and rural areas, such as Pierce County, due to limited public transit (It’s Not Just Hunger: Transportation’s Role in Food Insecurity, 2022). GoodRootsNW’s locker system mitigates this barrier by strategically placing its food access points in accessible areas, decreasing the burden of food procurement.

Another population facing significant food access issues is our Immigrant community. About 16%
of Pierce County residents speak a language other than English at home, and national studies indicate
that fear of immigration enforcement can deter families from accessing food programs, even when eligible (Bernstein et al., 2019). Since publication of this study, these fears have only increased with many of our neighbors afraid to go to grocery stores or food banks. By offering remote ordering and discreet pickup, as well as a multi-lingual order interface, GoodRootsNW reduces public exposure and enhances predictability and privacy, making food access safer for immigrant communities.

For Bea, this approach reflects a profound belief: food access is not just a service—it is a form of protection, care, and empowerment. These systems must continue to innovate and be designed to meet
human needs in a safe, and equitable way.

References:

Bernstein, H., Gonzalez, D., Karpman, M., & Zuckerman, S. (2019). One in seven adults in immigrant
families reported avoiding public benefit programs in 2018. Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/one-seven-adults-immigrant-families-reported-avoiding-public-benefit-programs-2018

It’s Not Just Hunger: Transportation’s Role in Food Insecurity. (2022, August 29). U.S. Hunger. https://ushunger.org/blog/transportation-food-insecurity

Feeding America. (2024). Map the Meal Gap. https://www.feedingamerica.org/research/map-the-meal-gap

U.S. Census Bureau. (2023). QuickFacts: Pierce County, Washington. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/piercecountywashington