More than 450 Sound Credit Union employees assembled more than 3,000 meal kits in Tacoma for families facing rising food costs across Pierce County.
The credit union partnered with Lakewood-based Emergency Food Network for its annual Afternoon of Service, SouthSoundBiz.com reported. Employees from across Washington packed "Bowls of Hope" kits, each containing ingredients for chicken tortilla soup. Sound Credit Union purchased the ingredients in bulk through the Emergency Food Network's partnership with Costco.
The kits will go to individuals and families served by the Emergency Food Network, which delivers food to 75 food banks and hot meal sites across Pierce County.
Demand is climbing.
Lianna Olds, the Emergency Food Network's deputy director, said in a press release that the need keeps growing. "Visits to our partners are growing each month as families are facing rising costs of food, healthcare, and gas," Olds said.
Jennifer Reed, vice president of public relations at Sound Credit Union, said in the same release that employees see the challenges families face as the cost of groceries, housing and other necessities continues to rise.
The event comes as Pierce County food banks have faced surging demand. In November 2025, Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello and the Pierce County Council proposed $400,000 in emergency funding for nine food banks and community organizations. At that time, the county reported that nearly 118,000 Pierce County residents relied on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and that local food banks were operating at record-high capacity, with community visits up as much as 40%.
Mello proposed directing $50,000 of that funding to the Emergency Food Network specifically. The county had already provided over $2 million to support food banks with bulk food purchases before the additional proposal.
The Emergency Food Network distributed 16 million pounds of food in Pierce County by November 2025, according to the county's announcement at the time.
