After feeding thousands for over 30 years, Moscow food bank director passes the torch

After feeding thousands for over 30 years, Moscow food bank director passes the torch

News Story by Lisa Ormond | FāVS News

At 83, Moscow resident Linda Nickels has decided it is time for her to leave her post as the steward of the Moscow Food Bank in Moscow, Idaho. This wasn’t her choice — she will tell you. Nickels without hesitation would still be working her 12-hour, five-day-a-week volunteer job if she could. But she received a message from someone mightier than her that she needed to hang up her wings of mercy. 

It was time. 

“Last fall, I received a nudge from God and he said ‘Knock it off, girl. Enough is enough!’” she said.

Nickels took this message to heart for her health’s sake and began to imagine and shift to a life where the food bank wasn’t her daily focus. 

Admittedly, she acknowledges this wasn’t easy for her.  

“God has a plan and I’m accepting it,” she said. “If I want to live on this earth, I’m going to have to do this His way.”

Always giving keeps her going

Nickels has been a faithful leader of this non-profit operation overseeing the distribution of food to those in need in her Latah County community for over three decades.  

Just how many residents exactly have been blessed by her charitable efforts is unknown, but in the past two and a half years alone nearly 50,000 people have received food at the doors of the food bank — which exceeds even Latah County’s total population of approximately 41,000. 

To say she’s made a difference in her community is an understatement and others agree.   

“I have certain principles that I don’t alter. If I know that this is the right thing to do, I’m not going to change my way of thinking because I know it matters and must be important,” Nickels said. “My mother used to say I was the most stubborn of her nine children — maybe that stubbornness is what caused me to be able to stick to the things that I wanted to do and not give in.”

Her will made it happen

Food Bank volunteer Connie Esser called Nickels “wonder woman” and said people have “no idea” what Nickels has given to this ministry. Esser got involved and started volunteering six years ago. 

“Many times, I’ve seen her deliver food to people at their homes even — she is just remarkable. I wanted to help her,” she said. 

Esser and many other volunteers echoed that Nickels would do whatever it took to have food on the shelves for those in need. 

“Linda did all the food shopping and picking up food from the local grocery stores five times a week including lifting 50-pound boxes on her own,” Esser said. “She also did the bookkeeping and accounting, wrote thank you notes, greeted customers and the list goes on and on.” 

Generous community ever present

Nickels has made running the food bank her life’s mission of devotion and dedication. St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Moscow, which is her home parish, the community at large and volunteers walked in step with her to lend support to the non-profit organization, its customers and Nickels, herself.  

“Really, the success of a food bank is relationships,” Nickels emphasized. “From your donors to your volunteers to your customers — all of them have to trust you and believe in your credibility.”   

Nickels said she values those relationships wholeheartedly because she knows that they are and have been the building blocks to the food bank’s sustainability success and making sure the needs of her neighbors are met.  

Last year, alone, the food bank provided food to over 21,000 residents, which was a 27% increase in just one year. The numbers continue to steadily rise and have since the organization’s start up.  

“Thank God, I’ve never begged for money, and we’ve always had enough,” Nickels said.

And Nickels added her “steady” volunteers are critical in operating the food bank and there is a total of about 40 who are mostly retirees. “Two of my volunteers have been with me over 20 years,” Nickels said. “We couldn’t do it without them.” 

The customer always the priority

Nickels said it’s a myth that those who come to food banks are generally retirees and students. The Moscow Food Bank demographic data shows the majority (51%) are Latah County residents between the ages of 18 and 59 years followed by 36% in the ages group between 0 and 18 years. Nickel said this surprises people.  

“Most are working parents in service industry jobs and have children,” said Nickels. “When you come, you don’t have to show financial need. We need an address and how many are in the family so we can tailor the food to give them. That’s all.”

“In 1993 when I started as director, we saw about five people weekly. Last year, we averaged about 422,” she said. “And we’ve never closed our doors, not even during COVID.”  

For Nickels what mattered most was not only that her customers received nourishment at the food bank door but also acceptance.

“When people come to the food bank, they don’t know what to expect. It is a hard thing and often there are tears,” Nickels said. “We give them a comfort area, a place to feel welcomed. We treat every person with dignity. I like that they are not judged, and they can come here just like going to the local grocery store.”

Charitable hearts make it work

Customers can choose what they want when they arrive. They select from a list of perishable and non-perishable food items — some items are given weekly and others once monthly. Gluten free and vegetarian options are available as well as meat, eggs and sandwich meats. 

The food bank is open two hours every afternoon, Tuesday through Friday. It closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The bulk of the food is donated by private citizens and local grocery stores or is bought with monetary donations. 

Moscow area grocery stores donate “tons of food” every week, Nickels said, including Rosauers, WinCo, Safeway and Walmart. Food is also purchased locally by volunteers and remotely online from the statewide organization Idaho FoodBank in Lewiston to fill gaps. 

Joanne Taylor, Rosauers Store Manager in Moscow, has partnered with Nickels and the food bank for over 25 years — providing perishable and non-perishable food for community citizens. She said Nickels has been the caring and dedicated ‘glue’ that’s made it work. She and her employees miss seeing Nickels at the store these days.

“Her personal efforts to serve is a testament of how a community can come together for the common good of others,” Taylor said. “It’s a beautiful and hopeful picture that despite differences, a community and its members can help in lots of ways when the desire is there.” 

Looking forward to the future

According to Nickels, she is now focusing her energies on the successful transition of the Moscow Food Bank from her hands to that of the five-member leadership team who will oversee the ministry going forward. They are longtime friends, volunteers and supporters of Nickels and the food bank and are St. Mary’s parish members.

Though Nickels admits it’s difficult to let go because she devoted the last third of her life to feeding others, she believes in the transition happening and in those who are taking over. Jokingly she said, “They are all way younger than I am.”

Seeing as the food bank originally started in a small storage closet in the St. Mary’s parish center and is now operating out of its fourth location 43 years later with expansion coming soon, she knows it is a blessed charitable enterprise whoever manages it. 

“I will tell you — it was a whole lot easier to oversee in those early days, but we have more mouths to feed so it has to keep going strong,” she said. 

Nickels recognized things had to change for her, personally, because she discovered she was ‘mortal,’ after all, at 83-years-old.

“I’m trying to make sure the transition continues and there is a good path forward. I’m so grateful to be alive to do it,” she said. 

‘I’m not worried’

When asked what her plans were next in her life’s journey, she kept it simple. 

“I will find me a new direction; I’m not worried,” she smiled. “I told myself you have an angel looking after you — and it takes good care of you. I have faith there is a plan. I just need to be patient to see what the Lord has in mind.” 

And what was Nickels favorite memory as director? 

Without hesitation she said, “We never ran out of food.” 

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