Hunger Vs. Hunger raises vital support for the Bellingham Food Bank.
When Ethan Hunger began Hunger Vs. Hunger, a fundraising campaign for the Bellingham Food Bank — where he volunteers weekly — in 2021, he thought it would be a one-time event to help families struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic get back on their feet. Five years later, the campaign is bigger than ever — and more vital.
This year, Hunger received the Washington State Volunteer Service Award for his work addressing food insecurity in Bellingham. The annual fundraiser begins today, May 1.
“I don’t fundraise to win awards, obviously,” Hunger said, “but if I’m going to win awards, I’m going to share it in hopes that it inspires someone else to do something similar.”
Stephanie Sisson, the community outreach coordinator for the Bellingham Food Bank, said “It’s really incredible to see how one volunteer from the (food bank) — to have an idea and go through with it with such a passion that it grows from an idea into a quarter million dollars last year. It’s nice to see the growth that’s come from it and the community rallying behind it to make that happen. I really encourage the community to come out and join and have a good time and learn about what we do.”
How it began
In 2020, Hunger was looking for ways to spend the free time he had due to not working due to COVID-19 quarantine. He’d always been interested in fitness and was considering different fitness challenges.
Hunger completed his first ever 10K Calorie Challenge on October 16, 2020. Starting at 4:50 a.m. and finishing at 8:55 p.m., he lost 10,000 calories using a combination of road biking, running, swimming and high-intensity interval training.
“I’ve never felt such a swing between pride and embarrassment,” he said in a documentary about Hunger Vs. Hunger released in January. Completing this challenge for the first time eventually brought him a feeling of guilt. “I literally burned through as much food as I possibly could for fun,” he said.
The next year, he decided to turn it into a fundraiser for the Bellingham Food Bank. He said the idea behind it was “to show people that even if you set out to live the most physically demanding day you can imagine, it comes nowhere near waking up hungry.”
The original challenge was “10,000 calories for $10,000.” He lost 11,877 calories and raised $28,036.
“I thought that was going to be the only time I did the fundraiser,” he said. “… in theory, COVID was going to be the bottom and this unbelievable increase in need for food was going to go away.”
Growing need and shrinking resources
Instead, with the loss of COVID-19 benefits, the number of families relying on food banks increased drastically.
The Bellingham Food Bank’s reports show what Sisson described as the largest increase in number of households it serves between 2021 and 2022, followed by another jump the following year that made them the busiest food bank in all of Washington. It serves 5,000 families a week, or approximately 25% of Whatcom County. The Bellingham Food Bank also works as a distribution hub to provide over 3 million pounds of food to other Whatcom County food banks.
According to Sierra Cook, executive director of the Ferndale Food Bank, there has been an increase of approximately 118% in the number of households shopping at the food bank, reaching about 500 each week. Steve Fox, director of Skagit Valley Neighbors in Need, reported an increase from 350 households a week to 570. Lopez Island Family Resource Center’s reports show its number has more than doubled since 2021, rising from 200 to 467.
At the same time, food banks are now facing unprecedented challenges due to major funding cuts and the termination of federal hunger relief programs.
The evolution of Hunger Vs. Hunger
Hunger continued the calorie challenge annually but added new elements, including events that aimed to offer fun ways for the community to engage with the cause. Last year’s events included a pickleball tournament and the Ski to Sea Block party, among others.
By 2023, 10,000 calories became 12,000. In 2024, he burned 12,165 calories within 15 hours and 20 minutes. This included 115 miles of cycling, 1.25 hours of high-intensity interval training, 26 miles of running, three miles of swimming and seven miles of mountain biking.
His sister, Maya Hunger, completed the entire challenge with him, and they crossed the finish line at 7:30 p.m. In total, approximately 100 people joined the challenge by participating in various parts of his route.
Total donations surpassed the goal of $100,000 for 2024, with the final number coming to $254,358.
One of the best parts of running the fundraising campaign, Hunger said, is seeing people go from attending the events to getting involved.
Hunger Vs. Hunger has no staff or set list of volunteers, and Hunger confessed that last year’s events became challenging to manage on top of work and training for the event. However, friends, family and strangers have reached out offering support in various ways, such as helping sell tickets or merchandise at events, leading groups at fun runs and updating his website. He’s also planned fewer events this year so he can focus instead on making the most of ones that have the most potential to make an impact
This year, Hunger’s goal to raise $300,000 would increase the food bank’s budget by over 5%.
Bigger than Bellingham
Fox explained how Skagit Valley Neighbors in Need had to learn how to run an “end-of-year giving” campaign last year. Although this is a common practice for nonprofits and something many local food banks already do, he said that as an organization they historically haven’t had to.
According to Fox, until last year, the food bank had enough food coming in from federal food aid, other hunger relief organizations and donations that they’d never had to purchase food before.
In 2024, they purchased food twice. In just the first quarter of 2025, they’ve already had to purchase food three times.
Their first end-of-year giving campaign brought in $50,000. Now, he said they’re looking forward to the Riverwalk Summer Concert Series where they’ll have a booth set up to engage with the community, raise awareness and gather donations for the cause.
Helping Hands Food Bank and Solution Center was also awarded the Washington State Volunteer Service Award this year for food distribution center where it served 9,500 households in 2024 and for working as a solution center, connecting people to other resources they may need to find support and stability.
While the Ferndale Food Bank sees the most success from its end-of-year giving fundraiser, its busiest time of year is the summer. To help the food bank make it through, staff organized a corporate food drive challenge between Superfeet, Phillips 66 and Samson Rope. Each of these companies will be raising food donations from June 16 through 27 with a goal of reaching 6,000 pounds of food.
“These efforts will help us get through our busiest months in the summer, when we see an increase in demand because of school being out and seasonal farm workers being in town,” Cook wrote in an email. Community members can contribute by donating directly. Their hope is that the corporate food drive challenge will get them through July and the donations raised will support them through August.
San Juan Island is once again offering its Fresh Bucks program this year, which offers anyone living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level up to $40 to spend on locally sourced, EBT-eligible foods every time they shop at the San Juan Island Farmers Market, starting Memorial Day.
According to Kristen Rezabek, the health and nutrition coordinator for San Juan County Health and Community Services, 192 households were enrolled in Fresh Bucks from Memorial Day through September in 2024 and spent $28,000 of funds from the program on fresh, locally grown foods. This year, they’re hoping to raise between $60,000–75,000 in donations.
Year five launches May 1
Year five of Hunger Vs. Hunger launches May 1. This will also be the start of the first-ever Hunger Vs. Hunger newsletter, as well as the announcement of this year’s community events. So far, these include a pickleball tournament, a 5K fun run, the Ski to Sea block party and the finish-line party at Stones Throw Brewery. The Ski to Sea block party’s raffle will include a team entry for Ski to Sea 2026.
The 12K calorie challenge will take place on July 19 and conclude with the finish line party at Stones Throw Brewery.
Currently, Hunger said he has over 50 businesses sponsoring the campaign in various ways, such as monetary donations, hosting events and donating raffle prizes. Three of these — Bell Lumber and Pole, an anonymous donor through the Whatcom Community Foundation, and the Jerry H. Walton Foundation — will match donations this year.
— By Rebecca Sutch
Ed.: Direct donations to Hunger Vs. Hunger or the Bellingham Food Bank are managed on their respective websites.
Also read in Salish Current:
• “San Juan Island Farmers Market kicks off coupon program fundraiser,” March 6, 2025
• “At local food banks, accelerating need exceeds supply,” Nov. 22, 2024
• “Cultivating a resilient regional ‘seed to sandwich’ food system,” Feb. 12, 2024
• “Connecting Skagit’s food producers and food needs,” Jan. 15, 2024
• “Food banks and visitors struggle during food and funding scarcity,” April 7, 2023