If tough times come, we will be there | Guest View
Published 10:09 am Friday, January 13, 2012
By Mary Nader
2011 was a very busy year for Fishline Food Bank and Emergency Services. Unprecedented numbers of clients came through our doors, prompting us to reach new heights of efficiency and clever resource management.
Our staff and volunteers worked long hours and with incredible fervor, serving on average 125 families a day, an increase of 15 percent since last year and double since 2007. Fishline’s special programs, such as the children’s weekend meal program and our holiday basket programs, relaxed the economic tensions faced by so many in our town.
On any given day in 2011, Fishline was a beehive of activity. Clients waited at the front door for the market to open and came throughout the day hoping to shop for their families or to be helped with their utility bills or to avoid eviction. Food Bank volunteers started picking up food donations from local stores every day at 5 a.m. and, in an organized relay-race style, kept the market stocked all day. Volunteers at Second Season, our thrift store, sorted incoming donations and created a beautiful boutique shopping experience, generating much-needed revenue for Fishline’s mission. Scores of hard-working neighbors made every day a symphony of coordination and camaraderie.
Many transcendent moments occurred this year: Children asking for donations to Fishline instead of presents for their birthday. Little white bags hanging from mailboxes on a spring day, stuffed with peanut butter and boxed meals, a striking show of solidarity from a community refusing to accept hunger as an option. A call for turkeys that yielded an avalanche of Thanksgiving meals. Businesses, civic groups and churches creating innovative fundraisers that raised thousands of dollars. Clients who were grateful beyond words when told they could pay their electric bill, give their children toys for Christmas or provide their families with a holiday ham. Neighbors reaching further into their pockets than ever before, increasing donations this year in defiance of all the gloomy economic news or perhaps because of it.
It’s a remarkable place from which to bear witness to the beauty and generosity of the human spirit. Now, thanks to your unwavering support, Fishline can evolve its services in 2012, anticipating the changing needs of our community. On Jan. 28, our Empty Bowl Fundraiser will be held at Gateway Fellowship Church, where a $15 donation will be greeted with a hot bowl of soup in a hand-painted bowl that will be yours to keep. Fishline’s new delivery service will ramp up this year to reach seniors, disabled or ill clients who aren’t able to get to the Food Bank. We will further emphasize help for homeless clients, working more closely with other social service agencies to provide the true safety net we all desire for our most vulnerable. We hope this will be the year Fishline finds and moves into a larger facility.
We can’t predict what this next year will bring, but after almost 45 years, we can make this promise: That the folks in our community need not worry — if tough times come, we will be there to help each other. No one need handle the curve balls of life alone. This is perhaps the greatest gift of all, and it’s thanks to you that we can make that promise and offer that hope.
Mary Nader is executive director of North Kitsap Fishline.
