In October, ShareNet begins Neighbor Aid, the annual fundraiser that allows us to continue to serve our community. Continuing through December, Neighbor Aid is critical to ShareNet’s next operating year.

We continue to face a challenging operating environment. In 2008, when the economy tanked, food banks suddenly became front page news as more and more people needed us or knew those who did.

ShareNet provided services more than 13,000 times in 2012, up from 2,000 in 2007. While those client numbers have been sustained, hunger’s prominence in the community has not. And like most food banks, ShareNet is faced with this incredibly increased patronage, but donations that have returned to lower levels.

With so many more customers, at a time when other agencies might have trimmed their operations just to keep up with the need, ShareNet actually innovated with new programs like Food to Grow On, ensuring the neediest children don’t go hungry in our four local schools, betting community support would be there for such an important cause. So far it has been.

Who does ShareNet help?  People like you and me, lives that have broken down in ways that could and do happen to any of us.

Sharon is a single mom with three kids and no support from an absent husband.  When she was laid off from her part-time job, she had many fears, including how she would put food on the table for her kids.  ShareNet helped tide her family over with groceries until she found a new job, and supplemented one of her rent payments so she would not be evicted.  Sharon wrote us a card recently to tell us she did not believe her family would have gotten back on its feet without ShareNet.

Cora is a senior living on a small fixed income, most of which is used for her rent, medical care, and basic needs.   She is as thrifty as a person can be, shopping all the specials, and manages as well as she can, but on her budget it’s a struggle.   Two or three times a year, when food runs very low, she depends on ShareNet.  With no family in the area, Cora let us know ShareNet is her lifeline.

As the registered food bank for northernmost Kitsap County, ShareNet must adhere to rigorous operating standards and undergo annual recertification for membership in Feeding America, Food Lifeline, Northwest Harvest, Washington Food Coalition, and the Kitsap County Food Bank Coalition. ShareNet is further overseen by a board and operates under the 501c3 of Bayside Community Church.  ShareNet’s services are available, without discrimination, to everyone in the community.

ShareNet must also meet federal reporting and standards guidelines.  These memberships do not change ShareNet’s basic operating costs, but they do extend our purchasing power, allow us to maximize every dollar donated, and ensure an operating environment most beneficial to consumers of our services.   We do all the additional work these memberships require so we’re in a better position to help people.

ShareNet is about community in more ways than one. ShareNet also acts as a guide to other services and resources when people in our part of the county don’t know where to turn.  ShareNet is a place where people connect and learn about opportunities, a job for example, a savings coupon, a class on how to improve your credit, a gardening or canning tip, help with a repair or a shoulder to lean on.

ShareNet provides a site for more than 50 active volunteers, everyone from retired seniors to teens unable to find a paying summer job. One of our volunteers recently shared that participating in our work, seeing the value our service has for folks in trouble, has made his life meaningful again.

ShareNet exists to give help and support to local lives, hope they will make it through the week, the month, hope their kids won’t go hungry, they will find a better-paying job with more hours. A lot of people in North Kitsap depend on ShareNet, and ShareNet depends on you. Please consider a donation and look for more information on Neighbor Aid in the mail.

— Mark Ince is executive director of ShareNet.