Kingston’s food bank, ShareNet, raised a whopping $73,846, more than $10,000 above its goal.
With great humility and appreciation, we thank the hundreds of local individuals, businesses and service clubs who, working together, responded to Neighbor Aid.
The service organization experienced an increase in clients and service assistance after 2010’s relatively stable growth. ShareNet serviced 13,160 individuals — jumping from 7,236 in 2010 — and distributed 280,691 pounds of food, using 3,938 volunteer hours.
Growth at an organization is usually a good thing, but unfortunately this stat represents increased struggle in our community with hunger and unemployment issues. Volunteer hours also increased by about 1,000 hours. With every increase in service, it takes more volunteer commitment to operate ShareNet, and both our current volunteers and our community stepped up.
ShareNet’s weekend take-home program for school children, Food to Grow On, sometimes termed a “backpack program,” continued strongly in 2011, adding students, a school (Kingston High), and expanding beyond the traditional school year to serve Wolfle Elementary School’s summer session. Food to Grow On is one of those programs that provide immediate satisfaction in that we get to see the gratitude and delight on children’s faces, not to mention school staff, in receipt of this food.
Retail sales in ShareNet’s Thrift Shop help fuel our program. But the store is about more than sales. It’s about helping lives through the means available there, such as providing free clothing, blankets, coats, shoes, or other goods to those in need. The store also includes ShareWear, free professional attire for those re-entering the workforce who cannot afford the clothes they need to start the job.
Over the holidays, a single father recently relocated to Kingston and still struggling with the expense of the move, came to us seeking a coat for his young daughter. There weren’t many good options in the shop at the time but, soon after, a secret Santa donated a brand new coat with the tags still on in just her size. She was so thrilled when she got the coat, her Dad brought her back to thank us in person. Our work at ShareNet often allows us to witness this kind of grace.
Beyond the individual community support that is so vital to our operation, ShareNet benefits in a variety of ways from its membership in Food Lifeline and Northwest Harvest, our region’s two largest hunger-relief organizations. Significantly discounted and sometimes free food is made available to members of these agencies, as well as the latest news and best practices policies which ensure a food bank operates within the appropriate guidelines. Food Lifeline administers the Grocery Rescue program, which ShareNet operates locally, benefiting from food donated from grocery stores — in our case, Kingston Albertsons and Poulsbo Walmart.
In 2011, ShareNet, with its partner in administering this assistance, St. Vincent de Paul at St. Olaf’s, again prevented hundreds of evictions and power shutoffs by distributing more than $30,000 in crisis assistance to local residents unable to pay their bills. We remain the only significant provider of crisis assistance for our particular service area.
Our Thanksgiving holiday meal box giveaway was another big success in 2011, serving 695 individuals with a total of 11,321 pounds of food, each box containing enough for Thanksgiving and several meals beyond. Our Christmas Gift Shop served 190 children. ShareNet provided more than 165 new, well-stocked backpacks to struggling families in our community at our Back to School Supplies event, and donated the remainder.
— Mark Ince is executive director of ShareNet.
