KINGSTON — At job interviews, Lanie Scott has been told she’s underqualified. The mother of two has been unable to find work.

The 36-year-old said restaurants in the area are unwilling to hire her as a dishwasher. Scott’s husband is working, though, and the family is able to get by.

“We’re hanging in there,” Scott said. “It’s not exactly easy living nowadays.”

The family makes do, but with a limited income it’s difficult.

“We don’t go out to eat, don’t go on vacation,” Scott said. “It gets kind of strenuous …” Families are supposed to go on vacation occasionally, supposed to go out to dinner, she said. “But we look at [our] finances and just can’t do it …”

A promise to his mother

When Joe Grace’s mother died, he made a promise: To take care of his grandmother.

Grace, 57, receives Social Security because of a disability that keeps him from working; it’s his only source of income. The 25-year Kingston resident tries to stretch his income as far as he can.

However, having to take care of his grandmother makes it more difficult for Grace to stretch that money. That is why Grace turns to ShareNet for help. He uses the north-end food bank about once a month, he said.

“I try not to use them too much,” he said. “I try to use my money first …”

The reasons it exists

For north-end residents, times can get tough. Scott and Grace are just two examples of why ShareNet does what it does.

“For years I donated to ShareNet,” Grace said. “Never thought I would ever have to use them … They’ve been really good to me.”

ShareNet, a non-profit, serves Eglon, Hansville, Indianola, Indianola, Kingston, Little Boston, Port Gamble, and a portion of Poulsbo and Suquamish.

ShareNet operates a food bank, a clothing bank, and a program to make nutritious food available for school children on weekends.

ShareNet also assists families and individuals facing eviction or needing help keeping their utilities on.

ShareNet’s annual budget is about $150,000.

The food bank is in the first phase of its annual campaign, Neighbor Aid. Letters to the community and donors will be sent out in early November.

“It’s really a big deal for us,” ShareNet executive director Mark Ince said. “It’s the annual fundraiser.”

The community contributed $56,785 to ShareNet’s 2012 Neighbor Aid campaign.

Ince said ShareNet depends on the campaign to continue “operating strongly for another year”; that means no cutbacks on food and services.

“That’s the No. 1 goal — to ensure that we can continue to purchase what we need and there’s no reduction in services.”

The need for services that ShareNet provides is increasing. In 2007, ShareNet staff assisted people 2,000 times. In 2012, staff recorded 13,000 “service instances.”

The majority of the people who use ShareNet’s services are the working poor — people un- or under-employed — Ince said. Elderly residents living on a minimum income also visit ShareNet, as well as people with disabilities or living with illnesses.

Non-profits such as ShareNet are preparing themselves for more patrons in the future. The U.S. House voted to cut $39 billion from federal food assistance programs in the next decade; 1.11 million in Washington receive help. In 2012, 44,523 Kitsap County residents received food assistance.

Ince said his job has increasingly become focused on raising more money for ShareNet.

“It’s a scramble,” Ince said. “That’s why Neighbor Aid is so critical; not knowing what will come in…”

Since joining the staff of ShareNet, Ince has seen many food banks go from “dire straits” to focusing on healthier food.

Nutrition has become a common word around the Kingston organization. ShareNet is partnered with Kingston Farm and Garden Co-op’s Giving Garden — hoop houses were recently constructed, which will allow more food to be grown over the winter. ShareNet is also enrolled in Grocery Rescue through the Food Lifeline program; it receives unsold yet consumable food from Kingston Albertsons five days a week.

ShareNet also runs the Food to Grow On program. The program provides food for the weekend for Kingston students at Wolfle and Gordon elementary schools, Kingston Middle  School and Kingston High School. The food is brought to school offices and discreetly distributed.

Though it’s impossible to tell how much funding ShareNet will receive through its Neighbor Aid campaign, Ince said enough funding could help the organization grow. He would like to see ShareNet provide for more students with the Food to Grow On program, create an arm of ShareNet dedicated to case management, and hire a volunteer coordinator as a paid position.

More than a food bank

Lanie Scott was what she called “down on her luck.”

On the first day she went to ShareNet, she had lost an aunt. When she entered ShareNet, a volunteer soon took notice of her state.

“It looked like I had obviously been crying,” Scott said. “[The volunteer] asked me if everything was OK.”

Though she doesn’t consider herself religious, when the ShareNet volunteer offered to say a prayer, Scott didn’t refuse.

“They said a prayer … it made me feel better,” Scott said.

Scott is originally from the east side of the Puget Sound region, and has lived in Kingston for about 13 years. She goes to ShareNet twice per week.

“If ShareNet wasn’t around, I would be at wits-end,” Scott said.

The organization has done more than help with food.

When Scott couldn’t afford to provide her children with anything for Easter one year, ShareNet once again stepped in. Volunteers put together two Easter baskets to surprise her children with.

“I managed to hide the baskets until Easter,” Scott said. When her children woke up the next morning to find their baskets at their door, they were ecstatic, she said.

Grace echoed the positive feelings.

He’s known some of the ShareNet volunteers for about 25 years — not knowing they volunteered there.

“They’re the most polite people in this area,” he said. “There’s never a bad word out of their mouth[s].”

Grace has seen people walk into ShareNet and “just give them hell.” But the staff and volunteers are always mellow, he said.

“They’re good people,” Grace added.

Even if ShareNet is unable to directly help with something, the staff is willing to send people in the right direction, Scott said.

And though times may be tough, Scott likes to look on the brighter side of things.

“Things will turn around,” she said. “If they don’t, I’ll eat my hat.”

— TO GIVE: ShareNet is located at 6061 United Road, Kingston, WA 98346. ShareNet’s mailing address is P.O. Box 250, Kingston, WA 98346. Telephone: 360-297-2266. Online: www.sharenetfoodbank.org.

PAST NEIGHBOR AID TOTALS

2009: $62,880
2010: $62,082
2011: $73,846
2012: $56,785