Sharon Carter scrambles up into a pickup to help unload produce boxes of spinach, lettuce and celery for the food distribution she does the next day for anyone who is hungry.
“If they come in with a lot of bling-bling or come in all muddy, I’m not here to judge, I’m here to feed people,” Carter says about the Wednesday and Saturday morning food bank she’s run since 2008 out of her home on Kent’s East Hill.
But the 64-year-old woman ran into a problem this month when the city of Kent sent her a final notice of a code violation for excessive client trips in violation of her home occupation license.
A code enforcement officer recently counted 16 people in line at her home, which violates the city code of no more than four vehicle or pedestrian trips in and out of the home per day, according to the letter sent to Carter.
“The reason for this limitation is to ‘…help preserve the residential character of the city’s neighborhoods from commercial encroachment while recognizing that certain selected business activities are compatible with residential uses,'” said city building official Bob Hutchinson, who oversees code enforcement.
If Carter fails to correct the violation by Nov. 21, she will be subject to a $500 fine.
“I just want them to leave me alone and let me serve people,” Carter says.
A next-door neighbor first complained to the city about four years ago against Carter’s food bank and all of the vehicles and people it attracts to the residential neighborhood. Carter started the free food giveaway out of her driveway. She now has several large tents or sheds in her backyard where she stores and distributes food.
A handful of volunteers help her pick up surplus food from about five warehouses and stores, but most of it comes from one food distribution warehouse in Kent. All of the food is donated.
Carter says about 3,000 people are fed each month by the food she gives away for families, many who need additional supplies than what they can get from the Kent Food Bank. As many as 40 vehicles arrive during the two-hour period on Saturday. She doesn’t advertise the food bank but news has spread through word of mouth. People come from Kent, Renton, Tukwila, Seattle and other cities. The hungry are of many ages and nationalities, including refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
“It’s only two hours and they come and go,” Carter says. “In two hours it goes back to being the same old boring neighborhood.”
Carter, who has lived in her house since 1985, describes it as “poetry in motion” as people file through the tents to pick up their food. She doesn’t ask make them show identification or answer a bunch of questions to get food.
“The only criteria is do you get hungry?” she says. Of course. You’ve met the criteria.”
She just wishes the city would be as easy on her.
“If I was dealing drugs it’d be one thing,” Carter says about the city’s crackdown. “I don’t know why they can’t make me exempt. It’s not a bad thing I’m doing.”
Mayor Suzette Cooke visited Carter’s home after Carter asked to meet with Cooke in an effort to allow the food bank to continue. Carter said the mayor seemed to like the setup.
“It was clear she doesn’t meet the code for the traffic it generates in the neighborhood,” Cooke said during a phone interview. “As good as her heart is and as good as the operation is, it’s not in the right location in a residential neighborhood.”
Carter had hoped Cooke could do more.
“She liked it, she hugged me,” Carter says.
Cooke said city officials had not noticed the food distribution, partly because the operation sets up behind her house.
“We responded to a neighbor’s complaint, which is what the city does,” Cooke said.
Because of the city’s notice to shut her down, Carter is in the market for a small passenger bus that she hopes would get her around the city code. She hopes people coming to the food bank can use the River of Life Fellowship Church parking lot and take a shuttle bus to her home.
“I talked to one of the pastors there and they said I could use the lot (for parking),” Carter says. “I’m not stopping this.”
Carter calls the food bank her Church Without Walls Ministry, but she doesn’t preach to the people. She gives the people food. She prefers to let the people come to her house without the need for a shuttle.
“It’s so much nonsense and trivial to me,” Carter says. “To feed people makes sense. They (city of Kent) want to shut this down that feeds 3,000 people a month.”
Cooke said maybe Carter can find another location, such as at a church where city codes aren’t as strict when it comes to pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
“It’s very well organized and awesome what she’s doing,” Cooke said. “It provides a real benefit to the community. I don’t doubt the need and quality of service.”
Cooke added maybe there’s way Carter could work with the Kent Food Bank on a long-term solution to set up a satellite operation somewhere else near Carter’s neighborhood.
Hutchinson, the city building official, says the goal isn’t to collect fines.
“The main purpose of the city’s code enforcement program is to protect and maintain our community’s standards, as expressed in city codes, not to punish people,” he said. “Assessment of civil penalties is a tool used only when these efforts are unsuccessful. Guided by this perspective, staff strive to provide information to encourage those responsible for property to meet those standards, which is usually successful.”
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