Need Help? Call FISH
360-636-1100
Free food 9 a.m. to noon
Other needs: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
FISH is an all-volunteer
nonprofit that provides
immediate assistance
to thousands annually
Need Help? Call FISH
360-636-1100
Free food 9 a.m. to noon
Other needs: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
FISH is an all-volunteer
nonprofit that provides
immediate assistance
to thousands annually
Since 2002, FISH phone volunteers have filled more than 56,000 requests for a variety of services — an average of 2,435 annually.
Every request begins with a phone call to the FISH helpline. It is reserved for nonfood services from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
Most assistance provides basic needs such as keeping water and electrical services from being shut off or providing propane to heat trailers, RVs and tents during cold months. Other help includes providing prescriptions, monthly bus passes, auto parts and shoes, boots or clothing and test fees required for a new job.
Statistics show that the afternoon program lives up to FISH’s mission of providing temporary emergency services. Year after year approximately 75% of all recipients use the afternoon program just once, even though guidelines allow people to use some services, such as propane, bus passes and prescriptions, several times a year.
Our volunteers know that many callers – especially people who have never asked for help before – are apologetic
about calling FISH. We welcome all calls from people who are in a temporary financial pinch. The situations
described below are the main services FISH provides. But there are many more. Moreover, volunteers have
discretion to help with unusual situations and exceed guidelines in extraordinary circumstances.
One of the most desperate calls FISH volunteers get are from people with a shutoff notice from their water department.
Volunteers tell them FISH will keep water flowing if they are able to reduce the balance to $100 or less.
Once volunteers confirm the balance, they pledge to pay it. Ten water departments in Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties have agreed to bill FISH.
The limit for water bill help is once per year.
FISH helps with PUD bills only when the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is unavailable.
The Lower Columbia Community Action Council (CAP) administers the program. Benefits range from $250 to $1,750 depending on income. CAP helps about 1,200 households per year.
When its funding shuts down for three months each summer, FISH volunteers help callers who have a shutoff notice and owe $100 or less.
Vehicles that stop running can be a devastating problem to low-income earners who need to drive to work. That’s why FISH helps people buy auto parts. FISH pays a portion of the cost of an auto part; callers pay the balance. Most callers have the knowhow, or friends, to make repairs.
FISH also helps people without access to cars by providing $14 monthly bus passes from River City Transit. In 2025, FISH bought 199 passes for 112 clients.
The auto parts program gives some insight into income levels of FISH clients. Volunteers record the year, make and model of each client’s vehicle. In the past two years, more than 90% of clients drove cars, pickups and RVs that were at least 15 years old. In 2025, FISH helped 386 recipients get auto parts.
Prescriptions, emergency dental appointments and vision care are available through FISH. Individuals and families without health insurance may call FISH to learn about how they can get help paying for all or a portion of a health care problem.
Requests for prescriptions and emergency dental care to FISH may begin to increase because Congress ended Medicaid subsidies in January 2026.
Prescriptions were FISH’s largest nonfood expense every year before 2012. But Rx requests began declining as the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2014. It was the first year Rx recipients dropped well below 1,000. Since 2021, FISH has filled fewer than 100 prescriptions annually. Dental emergencies averaged 240 before 2014 but totaled just 11 in 2025.
Eye exams and glasses became available in early 2026. An optometrist in Kelso has agreed to work with people who need help from FISH.
Propane to heat houses, RVs, trailers and tents is available through FISH during the coldest six months of the year.
Callers have a choice of four propane outlets. They are near Winco, west of Longview, on Westside Highway near the Lexington Bridge, and in Woodland.
FISH has a daily price limit and an annual frequency limit.
FISH volunteers are keen to help people get items they need before they can accept a job offer. The most common requests are for work boots or shoes, uniforms or presentable clothing. FISH also pays for tests required for employment.
From 2022 through 2025, FISH spent $20,160 to help a total of 576 people get what they needed to qualify for a new job. Annual averages were 144 people at a cost of just $35 per person.
All images by ChatGPT
A FISH volunteer and board member who is not part of the telephone crew manages a program that provides shoes for low-income children. They are referrals from schools and nonprofits that work with families. When our volunteer learns about a family, she sees that all their children, from newborns to teenagers, get a new pair of shoes – an exciting event in the household.
The children and their parents shop for shoes. FISH pays for them through a partnership with Walmart. The volunteer has lined up a variety of sources that call her with names of parents whose children need shoes. Two key partners are community resource employees in the Longview and Kelso school districts. Students in elementary, middle school and high schools have received shoes.
Families are also referred by preschool and Head Start programs. Other organizations that request shoes for children include Youth and Family Link, the Ethnic Support Council, Family Promise, a homeschool group, the Progress Center, a teen parent program and a church that has a ministry for prison families at Christmas.