As Thanksgiving rolls around, our collective ShareNet mind is mostly on the preparations necessary to serve about 200 families for the holiday. But we also think of the many partnerships we are grateful for this year, and the many unsung heroes in the ShareNet community.

We’re incredibly grateful for our daily onsite volunteers who keep ShareNet running, too numerous to name here: We literally couldn’t do it without them.

As well as our onsite volunteers, there are many people we don’t see every day and some we never meet who make significant contributions to the well-being and improvement of our community via ShareNet.

We’re just the vehicle which transports these good acts and hopes to those who struggle in our community.

We also couldn’t do it without our community supporters and financial donors.

On the basis of our service to the community, ShareNet was chosen for a 2015 Leadership Kitsap project. When Talia DeCoteau called in late 2014, we were deep in the middle of those holiday preparations, the last quarter of the year always cranking up the busy level from its usual crazy to crazier. I could tell what she was describing was a good thing, I just didn’t know how much time we would have to give it.

Even after we said yes, there was a selection process to undergo. We’re glad Talia persisted. She had firsthand experience of ShareNet’s value to the local community.

Ultimately, we were selected for Leadership Kitsap’s team project, and our part of North Kitsap emerged the stronger for it, after a community forum to discuss hunger and poverty, and two new freezers at ShareNet.

Volunteer Mike Willmes came onboard as a Grocery Rescue driver. This is one of our most difficult volunteer positions to fill because it’s hard work and requires no physical restrictions.

We had no idea how much we would come to rely on Mike, and how much of his time and labor he would give. He subbed when people were out, took extra shifts, filled in on all sorts of van runs beyond just Grocery Rescue, and generally went above and beyond.

Then he brought his mom Pauline Heath into it, a very hard worker as well who has also given a lot of her time. The Willmes family has proven you can see each other at home all the time and volunteer together too, maybe just not all at the same time. Dave Dixon, Mike Webb, and Chris St. Romaine are also volunteers who did way more than they initially committed to this year.

The two Kingston house churches of Kitsap Alive, with their incredible service model, have always been there for ShareNet, regularly supporting us in the annual postal food drive. They have always let us know we could call upon them when we needed them, and we often have.  Carol and Ted Anderson have motivated ShareNet participation, and Carol is now a board member.

Amber Timmerman is also part of this group, and early in 2015 contacted us about our needs. We told her we were always trying to find new ways of getting more produce and healthier ingredients for our clients. Timmerman organized a group who purchased fresh produce for ShareNet clients for a couple of months to augment our own purchasing.

Ultimately, the group didn’t find it sustainable time-wise or financially, but we appreciated their extraordinary effort.

On the produce front, we are so thankful for the Kingston Farm and Garden Co-op, whose Giving Garden has donated almost 1,300 pounds of fresh produce in 2015 to nourish our clients. We are also grateful to Erron Kellner and those growers from Kingston Farmers Market who made contributions this year.

When our event chair of the past few years couldn’t take on our Back to School Supplies event in 2015, we called upon another supporter of the effort, Pat Bennett-Forman. It was as last minute as it could be to have any reasonable chance of mounting a successful event, but Pat agreed without a second thought, and brought the power of Kiwanis, and again the Kingston house churches, to make it happen.

Laureen Davis of Hansville had hand-carved wooden toys for our annual Christmas Shop for years.

After longtime chair Barb Brumagin stepped down in 2014, we asked Davis if she would take it over. She did, and her great organization and heart made a lot of kids in the greater Kingston area happy. Bill Nolan and Lee Demmert did the heavy lifting, rolling out the barrels and bringing them back in.

Longtime board member Bernard (Bernie) Delettrez has been a behind-the-scenes presence at ShareNet for many years and in many ways. Bernie is the board treasurer, and our general go-to guy for many miscellaneous needs and projects. We salute Bernie for his tireless service.

— Mark Ince is executive director of ShareNet. He can be reached by calling 360-297-2266.