Bringing Life to the Desert
After seven years of fighting against their food desert status, the Birchwood neighborhood is hopeful for change.
The Birchwood Food Desert Fighters holding one of their weekly, Saturday share spots in the Industrial Credit Union parking lot. // Photo by Shirley Zhou
This article has been republished from Spring 2022. Some facts have been updated for accuracy and clarity. For more information, contact The Planet Team at planet@wwu.edu
June 6, 2023
Story by Shirley Zhou
On one sunny Saturday, people gathered in an inconspicuous parking lot on the corner of West Maplewood and Northwest avenues. The lot, owned by the Industrial Credit Union, sits empty on the weekends except for the row of folding tables and coolers filled with an assortment of fresh and pre-made foods. People flowed in and out of the lot, browsing and taking as much food as they needed.
On one row of tables, boxes filled with vegetables and fruits attracted most of the crowd. After looking through the produce, people perused the canned goods, proteins, soups and seed packages courtesy of the Salish Seed Guild, a local nonprofit organization that grows and stores plant seeds.
For the last seven years, the Birchwood neighborhood — home to about 10,000 people — has suffered from a lack of accessible nutritious foods since the local Albertsons, the only grocery store in the neighborhood, closed.
With no other supermarkets within a mile radius, a group of neighbors and allies formed the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters. The group holds weekly food shares in the parking lot, sets up food boxes throughout the neighborhood and delivers groceries to senior, low-income apartments in Birchwood Manor.
“It’s something we started initially because the biggest thing that was missing was produce, so we started sharing plants and seeds through the neighborhood,” said Tina McKim, a leading organizer for the group.
No other grocery stores can take over Albertsons’ old building — the only space in the neighborhood big enough for a grocery store — due to Albertsons’ non-compete clause which prohibits any other supermarket from purchasing the building for the next 20 years.
This leaves Birchwood residents stranded in a food desert; or an area typically located in low-income neighborhoods where a substantial number of residents do not have access to a supermarket, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“It is a practice of cutting off food access to those who have the hardest time getting it,” McKim said.
Albertsons implemented a non-compete clause when the store first opened in the Park Manor Shopping Center. After Albertsons left, they sold the building to GGD Oakdale, a private equity firm in California, and added language to the deed to prohibit GGD Oakdale from changing the clause, McKim said.
Albertsons did not respond to a request for comment.
The main sources of food in Birchwood now come from convenience stores and restaurants where options are usually limited and highly processed. The closest grocery stores are Fred Meyer and Haggen which are a little over a mile away from Birchwood. This may seem like an insignificant distance, but for those who don’t have easy access to a car, it can be challenging to get groceries.
“I used to walk to Albertsons just about every day, it was only a five-minute walk from my house. I knew the entire staff; they knew me, so it was a great loss that really hurt,” said Tim Casey, a regular volunteer for the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters who has lived in Bellingham for 35 years. “If somebody goes to buy a loaf of bread or milk, they have to spend $1 on the bus each way.”
Casey no longer drives, so he either takes the bus or embarks on the 30-minute walk to Fred Meyer which limits the number of groceries he can buy.
“If they have a gallon of milk on sale … I can only buy one because I’m walking,” Casey said. “There’s certain items I need to ask a friend to drive me to get.”
The Birchwood Food Desert Fighters have become the main food source, giving away around 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of food every Saturday, but their efforts can’t meet the full demand.
“What we’re doing isn’t enough because when you think about how busy a grocery store is, how much food there is and the relative amount of access to food, having a 24/7 grocery store versus [us being] open for an hour and a half on a Saturday, it’s totally not enough,” McKim said.
Although food shares provide support, people like Ivette Barnes — a Birchwood resident of two years —still have to travel to different stores to get all the food they need.
“It’s actually a little tough when you want something the little stores around here don’t have so then you have to drive to WinCo, but it depends on your financials,” Barnes said. “For me personally, with a family of five, it’s a little tough.”
If she forgets a certain item, she has to wait two weeks for her bi-weekly grocery run or for a time she happens to be near a store.
The Birchwood Food Desert Fighters’ efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. Since their formation in 2016, community organizations have reached out to offer support. Businesses and nonprofits like City Sprouts Farm, Calypso Kitchen and The Salvation Army regularly donate produce, pre-made foods and extra food, respectively.
The share spot welcomes a steady stream of people throughout the day. // Photo by Shirley Zhou
In 2019, the Fighters successfully lobbied for an ordinance banning future non-compete clauses in Bellingham which didn’t affect the one already established by Albertsons. Now, they’re pushing for a new space in the neighborhood like a co-op, farmers market or another set up to provide long-term food access, McKim said.
Albertsons’ non-compete clause can only be challenged by an entity with legal standing, like another grocery store, said Kristina Michele Martens, Bellingham City Council’s at-large representative. So the Fighters and the City have little legal influence, she said.
“It’s amazing the amount of legal barriers that one company can put up to just dry a community’s access to food,” McKim said.
Martens is exploring options to bypass corporate barriers and put an end to the food desert. Mi Rancho Meat Market, a restaurant and market in Birchwood, has the infrastructure to become a larger store, and if the owners are on board, Martens said she thinks they may be the solution.
The Birchwood food desert is not just an issue of food access, it’s also an issue of racial justice.
Birchwood is home to many low-income households and English language learner (ELL) families. At Birchwood Elementary School, 47.6% of students are low-income and 23.2% are ELL, according to data from the Washington Office Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Just a mile and a half away is Columbia Elementary School where only three percent of students are ELL and 22.6% come from low-income families, according to OSPI data.
“I feel like if [the food desert] is something that had happened in Fairhaven, the city would be really aggressive about bringing a solution,” Martens said.
At Fairhaven Middle School, 30.1% of students are low-income and 5.4% are English learners, according to OSPI data.
“Knowing the history of the Pacific Northwest and how homogenous Bellingham has really been for so long, [the City] just didn’t see the issues,” Martens said. “They weren’t aware of the issues so there hasn’t been a whole lot of representation for anyone who looks like the majority of people who live [in Birchwood].”
Even so, progress has been made in recognizing racial disparities in Bellingham.
Martens and the Chuckanut Health Foundation, have been working on establishing the Whatcom Racial Equity Commission. The Whatcom County Council voted on the Whatcom Racial Equity Commission becoming a formal entity in June 2022.
In October 2022, the commission was established to examine government spending through a racial equity lens and provide feedback to other agencies.
Looking ahead, Martens is hopeful for change.
“I’ve personally seen local leaders really have their eyes opened to how race impacts everything that you do,” Martens said. “The local government is seeing it finally [and] understanding that [the Birchwood neighborhood] is such a diverse community of people that we can’t keep giving them white colonizer answers to issues they’re facing.”
Shirley Zhou is a senior environmental studies major who has written and edited for The Planet. In her free time, she enjoys cooking and crocheting.