BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Tina McKim is a sort of mobile delivery service for the hungry in her neighborhood.
"There's a tremendous need for food in this community," McKim said.
It's a need made even worse by the closure of what used to be an Albertson's grocery store in Bellingham's Birchwood neighborhood.
That left the community with no place to get healthy food for more than a mile -- technically making it a "food desert."
"It's one thing if you have a car, but if you don't, or have mobility issues, it's very difficult," McKim said. "Families found it much harder to go out and access their groceries. We heard reports of people dumpster diving for food."
Faced with that stark reality, McKim and a group of volunteers formed the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters.
The group collects donated food and distributes it for free to their neighbors -- about 150 families.
The Food Desert Fighters stock community pantries, have a free Saturday market and they have built two community gardens.
Altogether, they provide one to two tons of free food to their community every week.
"Even if a grocery store were to move in tomorrow, there's still a tremendous need in the community," McKim said.
Food deserts occur when at least a third of the population is more than a mile from a supermarket in urban areas and within 10 miles in rural places.
By this standard, more than 18 million Americans lived in one in 2019.
Twenty percent of people living in urban areas are in food deserts. One in three people are in rural areas.
Now, McKim and her neighborhood volunteers are getting some help.
The Ferndale Food Bank is donating a truck to the group so they no longer have to work out of their cars.
McKim said this will allow them to pick up more donations and serve even more people.
"We really want to make sure that we're meeting those needs for the people who are falling through the cracks," McKim said. "Right now, that's a tremendous number of people."
The Birchwood Food Desert Fighters are now hoping for donations to help with insurance, gas and maintenance for their newly acquired truck.