As thoughts turn toward the upcoming holidays, they also turn to the subjects of sharing and giving, which after all are the best ways to celebrate the season. Food banks are a great example of how a community shares among itself, redistributing food or resource surpluses in one area to serve food shortages in another, namely folks struggling with hunger and other poverty challenges.
People give to ShareNet in an amazing variety of ways. David Richie donated a sliding platform for our van, which eases the backs of our volunteers in transport and logistics.
Kingston Farm and Garden Coop’s Giving Garden has provided a steady supply of fresh produce for our clients since spring. The Gluten Free Bakery and Market in Poulsbo donates to us regularly, a big help for our clients with those dietary needs. “Lisa the Egg Lady” and another named Becky bring us their surplus eggs.
4F&G Recycling’s Mark Fladsard picks up metal and electronic donations we can’t use and reimburses us. Beth Kommer of North Kitsap Metal Recycling did a fundraiser for us last month. Our Kingston Albertsons and Poulsbo Walmart donate through the Grocery Rescue program. Caring Clowns International and the Windermere Foundation assisted with our Back to School Supplies event.
Kingston IGA hosts a donation barrel and helps us with storage needs when we’re strapped. Kitsap Youth in Action staffed our needs for the annual postal food drive. The Kingston Farmers Market has made a regular financial donation through the summer months. Wolfle Elementary made ShareNet the beneficiary of its annual Penny Drive in 2011. These are just a few of the more prominent or regular examples of a direct provision our community makes to us, but there are countless others that are one-time only, done anonymously, or are not quantifiable.
Two of the most vital services our community provides for us are volunteers that keep us appropriately staffed and financial donations that keep us operating. From all this giving, ShareNet is able to provide a structure that harnesses this vital helping force in our community for the good of local residents who struggle with hard times, harder than ever for many. It’s a reciprocal relationship and a fair exchange: we exist for you, and because of you.
Overwhelmingly, Share Net is funded by small, individual, and local donations. That’s why we appeal to you during this time of year more than any other through our fundraiser Neighbor Aid, because your donations set our budget and ability to serve in 2012.
Many schools and parents use the example of ShareNet as a teaching exercise, an effective model for kids of how a community shares. They might have their teens harvest and haul in surplus home garden produce, host a neighborhood food drive, or make service to ShareNet the focus of a school project.
Our community relies on ShareNet to be great at what it does, just as we benefit from many individual community strengths, whether that’s a Kiwanis or Rotary member moved to help our fight against hunger who then marshals his or her organization’s considerable resources for our benefit, or a skilled gardener donating a bumper crop. That’s the essence of partnership and sharing.
ShareNet’s annual Holiday Box distribution is Nov. 21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Signups may be done in person during food bank hours until Nov. 18.
