KINGSTON — Late winter often proves to be the most difficult time of year for food banks in terms of drumming up donations and support.
Shelves at Kingston’s ShareNet, however, will be stocked awhile longer before officials there are forced to dip into the food bank’s pocketbook. The much welcomed delay came Tuesday afternoon as Kingston Thriftway came through with a donation of 864 cans of food.
“January, February and March are the slowest giving times for us,” said ShareNet Executive Director Lisa Defayette. “We give out most of what we get in December because of the holidays.”
All is not lost, however, and those in need won’t go hungry if Defayette has anything to say about it. More often than not, food banks can take financial donations given to them during the Christmas season and purchase food and other necessities from the Food Lifeline, she said.
“That can be tricky though, because we can’t order specific items,” Defayette said. “We can specify canned, but sometimes all we get is fruit or beans and no vegetables. It can be real hit or miss.”
Thriftway’s donation will help ShareNet postpone its order from the Food Lifeline, and the donation includes lots of vegetables and other healthy items, said Thriftway store manager Stephen Dixon.
“Around Christmas, we always do something like this,” he said. “The pallets come from when we order from the Associated Grocers, we set some food aside to donate.”
Thriftway offered to donate the food before Christmas, but Defayette advised officials at the store to wait.
“The community is really good around here,” said ShareNet volunteer Ralph Flewelling, who helped move the food on Tuesday. “They really do give a lot, which helps a lot of people.”
If the food bank were to come up short, residents in need would not suffer, Defayette assured. Schools and other businesses in North Kitsap are always happy and available to host food drives to assist their neighbors in need.
“If we needed to, we could set up a drive at Wolfle or Gordon (Elementary Schools) or outside of Thriftway,” she said.
“They are always welcome to set up outside of our store to collect food,” Dixon said. “We all do what we can.”
“What a lot of people are facing now, after the holidays, is whether to pay the heat bill or buy food,” Defayette said. “We’re hoping to help with that.”
