In 1975, Seattle and the nation were still suffering from the effects of a nationwide recession brought on by the Boeing Bust and a worldwide oil crisis. Unemployment was still growing. Federal funds supported Neighbors in Need, which ran 15 King County food banks that fed some 55,000 people.

When this photo was taken, Margaret Jensen had coordinated Seattle’s South Park food bank for about four years on an unpaid basis. Here, she fills a group of food boxes, each intended to feed eight people for three days. Each box will contain 14 fish patties, three cans of corn and three of peas, three packages of flour and 10 apples. She worries about what will happen after federal funds end in seven weeks.

Caption information source: “Skimpy, 3-day Fare to Feed Family of 8”, by Joel Connelly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 5, 1975, page A5.