The community went deep to support ShareNet services, with an incredible $73,334 raised for Neighbor Aid.
It was a great year for it, because ShareNet has never gone deeper to support the community than in 2013. Compiling our year-end data is a good excuse to look at the themes and trends that shaped themselves last year.
The central theme of 2013 was community partnership, going deeper to find linkages that assist those we serve and improve our community long-term as well as short-term.
- Individual service in-stances: 12,846
- Volunteer hours: 7,410
- Food distributed: 236,911 pounds
While ShareNet’s program for school kids, Food to Grow On, hit an all-time high in participation in November 2013, stats for core food-bank services were down slightly this year, which translates to more people working after some very difficult years — and a sign ShareNet programs have a real impact in helping people in getting back on their feet.
As ShareNet programs are refined beyond the core food bank and into specialized services for youth and seniors, for example, more volunteer staffing is needed. Drilling deeper into the community meant 7,410 volunteer hours in 2013 , up from 5,009 hours in 2012.
Partnerships leverage client services
A sampling of ShareNet’s key non-local partnerships are the Washington Food Coalition, Feeding America, Food Lifeline, Northwest Harvest, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Locally, ShareNet works closely with tribal governments, churches, schools, service clubs, Kitsap Community Resources, and the Kitsap County Food Bank Coalition to amplify our ability to serve. These affiliations place ShareNet in the center of an information share, which adds value to our services and thus our clients’ lives.
The non-local affiliations are not free. They require operating standards, inspections, and reporting, which increase ShareNet’s workload dramatically. But when you’re in the business of basic needs — food or shelter — there’s no room for almost getting it right. Our clients are struggling with some of the most basic and most powerful human needs; we can’t let them down by doing less.
xNew partnership formed with KCR
In 2013, ShareNet formed an exciting new partnership with Kitsap Community Resources to bring valuable financial education and training to clients in Kingston as well as the general public, including classes on collections and debt repayment options and how to get the most out of your money.
Instruction was provided by Peninsula Credit Union and American Financial Services. To boost attendance, ShareNet provided meals and childcare during the classes.
Part of ShareNet’s mission is to improve our clients’ lives in a more long-term way than our daily assistance. Providing education and making it available to all so that Kingston-area residents don’t have to drive to Poulsbo or Bremerton to participate, is part of building a stronger community infrastructure.
Volunteers provided equivalent of 3.5 FTEs
There were 7,410 volunteer hours worked at ShareNet in 2013. That’s the equivalent of about 3.5 full-time paid positions in volunteer labor.
Volunteers mean everything to nonprofits like ours. Volunteerism is another deep link to our community, and another area in which ShareNet has the opportunity to be more than a food bank.
Many in our community who are looking for ways to make a vital contribution find it through volunteering at ShareNet. Many who have been disenfranchised by unemployment, retirement, or disability have found a home at ShareNet, a way to stay connected.
Food to Grow On program is growing
When Food to Grow On participation reached an all-time high of 90 children per week in November 2013, we took a moment to stand back and measure how far the program has come since its inception four years ago. We knew the need was there at our four Kingston-area schools, but we did not know how deep it was.
This program is one of the most gratifying, if expensive, ways we serve, and has allowed ShareNet to review other opportunities for assisting schools — whether supporting Wolfle Elementary School’s summer session or looking at the potential to sponsor parenting classes tailored for low-income parents.
Emergency utility and housing assistance
In addition to our long-standing partnership with the Poulsbo chapter of St. Vincent de Paul in distributing emergency utility and housing assistance funds, we have partnered with Kitsap Community Resources to make its program accessible locally.
Now, instead of clients traveling to Bremerton for an appointment as they used to, they may now go online to www.kcr.org and apply and secure an appointment on Mondays at Bayside Community Church in Kingston.
We’d like to thank the incredible community we live in for their generous support of Neighbor Aid 2013, which will keep our services strong in 2014.
— Mark Ince is executive director of ShareNet.
