Nourish Pierce County

History

For more than forty years Nourish (formerly FISH Food Banks) has provided a lifeline of support to its clients. In the early 1970’s, a group of Pierce County churches came together to form what would evolve into seven brick-and-mortar locations, as well as ten additional sites served by a ground-breaking mobile unit, one of only a few of its kind in the country. Nourish reaches more people successfully due to its size, the largest network of food banks in Pierce County. From early on, Nourish collaborated with other local organizations. Both to serve those struggling with hunger in the community and also to change the entire food security infrastructure in Pierce County by creating a “food bank for food banks” now known as Emergency Food Network. This innovative thinking allowed Nourish to better meet the needs of its clients. In 2009, Nourish again responded to the hunger crisis in Pierce County by creating a broader support network of community resources available to its clients to strategically address the complex causal factors related to food insecurity, including mental illness, employment, and housing. Then, in 2011, Nourish pursued the novel idea of establishing the first mobile food bank in Pierce County, able to nourish parts of the county that would otherwise have no access to a traditional food bank. In 2014, we were named “Non-Profit of the year” by the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce. And finally, in 2017, FISH Food Banks rebranded as Nourish, with a new name and logo meant to embody the dynamic relationship between donors, volunteers, and staff, living out Nourish’s mission of caring for people with respect, dignity and compassion.