A food bank exists because of many small acts of generosity built one upon the other, until a force gathers and results in real impact in the community.

Now and then, there’s a large donation or a sweeping act which must be highlighted, but mostly it’s a countless number of small acts that ShareNet is built on. It’s a layering of many efforts, from the smallest action on the part of a donor or volunteer to more substantial manual labor or the intellectual capital of a group of people that makes ShareNet run.

All these efforts, these threads of good intention consolidate into assistance that changes lives. We know from our own lives that good intentions often remain just that. Not at ShareNet, where good intentions find their medium and their target every day.

ShareNet is a place where a community’s good intentions are made material through hard work helping folks in need. From abundance, a surplus of good health, good intent, and good actions, an effort is made to reach community members who do not know abundance, who instead know hardship and struggle. Challenge is a topic everyone can relate to, because who among us has not known hardship or struggle at one time or another? That unity of purpose in addressing the hunger and struggle that could strike any of us is why the work of our volunteers and staff is so powerful, and so important to the community.

If on one of these winter days you are ever in doubt about people’s ability to care or to help each other, come on down to ShareNet for a few minutes for ample evidence. At this time of year, we like to honor as many of the small, medium, and large efforts that go into building this support system as we can mention here.

Often, we have volunteers who identify a need at the food bank within the course of their shift — a shortage of hygiene products that day, say — who then go out and purchase those products and donate them of their own volition. We have regular volunteers and people in the community we’ve never heard from before who call to ask what we need, and then work to fill that need. One volunteer couple chooses to help provide infant supplies because that’s an area of special importance to them.

We have beneficial relationships with every other food bank in the county, wherein their surplus or ours in a particular area at any given time may assist the other. Many local grocers support us by participating formally in the Grocery Rescue Program or in whatever way they can: hosting a donation barrel, giving us a deal on turkeys purchased for our holiday giveaway, or storing frozen goods for us temporarily.

Artisan bakers Pane d’Amore, based in Port Townsend, drive around to all the local food banks in Kitsap, Jefferson, and Clallam to donate their surplus. Kingston-based Miracole Morsels Bakery donates as well.

Both of our local Tribes consistently support ShareNet. PAWS donates pet food because they know folks who struggle have pets, too. Many local churches contribute to ShareNet through a group project or another type of donation. Kingston Farm and Garden Co-op’s Giving Garden donates fresh produce almost year round now to local food banks, and we have countless small farmers and home gardeners who think of us when they have surplus, or grow a row with us in mind. Valley Nursery also grew for our clients this year.

ShareNet is a full-circle effort, not only in the sense of Neighbor Aid/ ShareNet/Community, but in the sense that many of our clients give back to the community helping them by volunteering now, or they become volunteers once they get back on their feet. To see a person or family emerge from struggle is one of the greatest rewards of our work. Another is to see help and concern enacted daily in our community.

Watch a community at work. Come on down to ShareNet or look for the progress of the Neighbor Aid 2012 fundraiser on the thermometer at the corner of Highway 104 and Lindvog, at the former Kingston Lumber location.

— Mark Ince is executive director of ShareNet. Contact him at sharenetdirector@centurytel.net.