The Salvation Army is asking the community for support yet again during Renton River Days. Its food bank is once again low on supplies and representatives will be collecting canned food at the IKEA Renton River Days Art Market throughout the festival.

“This year it’s been a little less,” said Beverly Storey, of the Salvation Army, about supplies and donations. “Since they’ve cut the SNAP program, which was supplemental to the food stamps, since then our numbers have just increased a little bit, but our donations haven’t increased.”

Those that the Salvation Army serves are noticing they are not getting as much in food stamps or from the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program anymore, she said.

“Those who may not have needed to use the food bank before find themselves needing to because the food stamps have been cut,” said Storey.

It amounts to about $60 to $70 additional for groceries every month, she said. The Salvation Army is also getting less donations from area grocery stores because of higher food prices and the economy. Local grocery stores usually take good care of the Salvation Army with donations, but those two factors, Storey said, are weighing on their supply of donations to them.

“So the grocery stores aren’t ordering as much, so there’s not as much left over to give programs like ours,” she said. “So because the grocery stores have taken a hit, we have too.”

The Salvation Army does appreciate all the help and support it gets from the community each time it’s asked, said Storey.

The canned food will be used at River Days to create an interactive duck art piece called “SalvArte” that will be on display in the Art Market in Liberty Park during the festival. All donations will eventually go to support the Salvation Army Renton Rotary Food Bank, as part of their “Feed the People, Not the Ducks” campaign.