The doors to the Port Townsend Food Bank opened early Jan. 23 as members of the U.S. Coast Guard Port Townsend office filed in to do some grocery shopping.

“It was a sea of blue,” food bank manager Shirley Moss said. “It was wonderful to be able to assist them, and they were so gracious.”

Donations from the community, such as cases of whole turkeys from the Port Townsend Paper Mill and food from Safeway, allowed the food bank to help the Coast Guard members who worked without pay during the 35-day government shutdown, Moss said.

On Jan. 25, the government reopened. But Jefferson County food banks are preparing for higher numbers in February.

“The February food stamp checks were sent out already,” Moss said. “Where we’ll really see the impact is going to be the second week of February.”

Individuals on the government-funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program received their food stamps for the month of February on Jan. 20.

The early release was not a bonus, Moss said. Now, individuals on food stamps have to carefully budget for an unknown future. If the government does not remain open after  Feb. 15, the state of food stamps for March is unknown.

“Our fear is the food stamps situation,” said Leslie Tippins, manager of the Quilcene Food Bank. “We don’t have the capacity to take the overflow of people who might not get their food stamps. People are in a panic right now over that. In February, if the government continues the way it has been, there are going to be children going without food.”

While the Port Townsend Food Bank has a the space to accept large donations of food, the food banks in Quilcene, Brinnon and the Tri-Area are smaller.

“We can order more food, but we don’t have the building capacity for it,” Tippins said. “Brinnon and Quilcene have tiny little food banks. I don’t even know what to ask for because our area for storing food is so small.”

Food Lifeline, an organization that delivers food to locations in Western Washington for 3 cents per pound, announced Jan. 25 it would waive all delivery fees through February.

“We encourage agencies to order as much food as you are able to,” Rosemary Rankin, Food Lifeline’s agency relations manager, wrote in an email. “We are mobilizing to increase our distributions to the agency network by 20 percent if need exists and the shutdown continues.”

But Tippins said she can only order as much food as she can fit in the food bank’s storage facilities.

“Where are we going to put it?” she asked. “I’m scared that we won’t be able to meet the needs of the people in our community.”

Moss predicts the number of food bank users will increase and stay that way in Port Townsend.

“The hardest part of using the food bank is going the very first time,” she said. “After that, people realize that the resource is there for them.”

There is a shortage of fresh fruits and vegetables.

“Cyclically, we’re low in the winter because, in summer, we have gardens growing produce for us,” Moss said. “That is the area that we are really short on.”

The Port Townsend Food Bank is open from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays for seniors 65 and over and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays for families and individuals. The Tri-Area Food Bank is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays. The Brinnon Food Bank is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays. The Quilcene Food Bank is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays.