Some volunteers at a popular International District food bank stuff their personal cars with donated goods after the doors close. KIRO Team 7 Investigators offered hidden camera proof to operators and then asked why they repeatedly let it happen.

The Asian Counseling and Referral Service is better known as ACRS to 5,000 needy families served in King County. When a concerned insider contacted Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne, saying volunteers were taking home large quantities of food, we staked the place out.

Here's how food handouts at this charity-run building are supposed to go: Clients, many of whom are elderly Asian immigrants, show identification and get pre-approved by the food bank. They are handed a paper ticket that includes a stamped number. They bring that number and stand in line outside under a nearby bridge for several hours before being ushered inside in small groups. That’s where they usually receive a small box or several plastic bags of groceries.

Based on our observations over 10 separate days in November, December and January, the same system is not used when food bank volunteers want to get some free food.

ACRS is busy serving hungry clients in Seattle's Chinatown district while open on Wednesdays and Fridays, but closing time is when a few volunteers really get busy.

We watched and videotaped a certain food bank helper repeatedly hauling loads of food out the back door to his own car. On one day, we saw him make 10 trips: Big boxes, little boxes, insulated bags, grocery bags, a case of Dannon bottled water- so much stuff that he had trouble getting it all to fit.

KIRO Team 7 Investigators followed him into Snohomish County but lost him in traffic. So, we went back and watched virtually the same scenario all over again in another couple of days. He repeatedly crammed donated foods into his vehicle.

Our cameras then caught him unloading bottles of juice, snack goods, frozen food (and a lot more) into a residential garage in Everett right after leaving work.

The next time he filled up his car with donated goods, (cookies, doughnuts, bottles of water, and a case of whipped cream were visible inside his car), we stopped him for an explanation.

Halsne: "Where are you going with all the food from the food bank?"

Volunteer: "I give - I don't speak English" - (turns back - drops food- and tries to move away)

Halsne: "You don't speak English? Food. Are you taking the food home?"

Volunteer: "Yeah. Yes."

Halsne: "Do you have permission to take the food home? Is it OK for you to take the food?"

Volunteer: "Yeah."

Halsne: "Isn't this for people who get in line? You work here. You work at the food bank, right?"

Volunteer: "Yeah. Um, I don't speak English."

His English might be limited, but he understood ‘you're fired’ - something that apparently happened shortly after we showed the videotape to ACRS directors.

After its own investigation, ACRS Executive Director, Diane Narasaki, says a male volunteer "is no longer with us" after he made an effort to be "secret" and "took foods in some cases without permission".

When first contacted, Narasaki said she appreciated KIRO-TV’s efforts, telling Halsne “Thanks to you we have an opportunity to look into this ourselves further and find out what’s happening with this.” She told us she would use our findings as a reason to “take this as an opportunity to speak with staff and review our policies.”

A few weeks later, Narasaki and ACRS staff changed its cooperative tune. Narasaki suddenly declined to answer specific questions about the results of its internal investigation.

Despite admitting they had to let a volunteer go for secretly taking food, she told Halsne “we found no gross violations”. She also pressured KIRO management to not air a story at all.

KIRO Team 7 Investigators had to go back undercover to verify ACRS appears to have made significant changes to its food bank operation recently. For starters, we now see an orange-vested staff security person posted out front of the International District food distribution, who appears to be monitoring the situation. Secondly, we no longer see volunteers taking massive loads of donated goods to their personal cars.

Originally, we watched a number of volunteers repeatedly taking six to 10 loads of food to their cars after hours, and then transport the food to residential houses and apartments. For example, we watched one particular volunteer fill his car interior and trunk with a couple of large insulated coolers, five boxes and a duffle bag. He then drove it to a house in Federal Way and unloaded it onto the floor of the garage while we videotaped. ACRS won't tell us why he and other volunteers took such large amounts of food to homes, but implied they were “authorized” to do so.

ACRS volunteer, Beatrice Smith, spoke with Halsne before anyone at ACRS had seen our video. Shortly after our conversation, Smith was reminded she was not authorized to speak with the media. Prior to that restraint, she provided valuable insight and raised some contradictions.

Halsne: "What are they doing with their cars full of food?"

Smith: "Oh. They take it distributed to like nursing homes and that's what we do, we deliver it to them - different organizations and buildings"

Halsne: "When do you deliver it to them?"

Smith: "We deliver it to them after we close."

If that happens, we never saw it. We followed half a dozen volunteers who took food after hours, and none delivered directly to a nursing home or community center. After we let Smith know our observations, she adapted.

Halsne: “So if our staff watches day after day, you – and several other employees- fill up their cars and go home and put it in their garages, that would not be usual?

Smith: “No. No. I mean some of them take food for their families, OK? The workers and volunteers here.”

Volunteers or workers taking large quantities of donated food home are not the norm in the food bank industry, according to Shelley Rotondo. She is executive director at Northwest Harvest, one of Washington's largest donated food distributors. She says Northwest Harvest has an express, written policy for both staff and volunteers who are in need of food. For employees, they must go to their supervisor, who will pull together a box of food that is the same as a client gets when they walk through the line. On top of that, the supervisor will walk that box out at the end of their shift to that person’s car.”

For volunteers, Rotondo tells Team 7 Investigators, “Our policy is that at the end of our volunteers’ shift, they can walk through the line like every client does and receive exactly what every client received. The bottom line for us is that we want to be clear about our policy. We want everybody to be treated the same and we want to be discrete in situations where it’s appropriate.”

Rotondo says it's hard to get either the public or businesses to donate food and money for disadvantaged clients if they don't trust it will distributed in a fair, balanced way to those most in need.

In her opinion, volunteers hoarding carfuls of goods isn't the way to achieve that trust.

“Certainly it would bother me. The work that food banks are doing right now, they're just doing a yeomen’s job at a critical time, so I certainly would not want an isolated incident to reflect on all hunger programs at this time.”

We asked for (and received) a written copy of the Asian Counseling and Referral Service policies regarding staff and volunteers taking food from the bank.

In part, the policy reads: “ACRS Food Bank Volunteers who are also registered Food Bank clients will receive the same amount of food as all Food Bank clients.” In a follow up email, an ACRS public relations person confirmed “we made a few clarifications and updates in January 2011.”

According to 2009 non-profit tax records, ACRS received around $13.6 million in contributions and grants. The food bank is just a part of the larger social services program.

Food Bank Policy