2024: Summer Newsletter

VOLUME 24, ISSUE 2

Our 50th Anniversary Fundraiser

On June 6th, the Marysville Community Food Bank celebrated its 50th anniversary and honored founder JoAnne Mulligan. From its humble beginnings in 1974, JoAnne and a handful of volunteers began serving 30 to 40 families dealing with food insecurity. Her unwavering vision has and continues to provide us with a strong foundation to fight hunger and make a difference in the lives of others. We have grown into a vital resource, providing food for over 24,000 households last year alone. We are eternally grateful for JoAnne and all the past and present volunteers who have helped us achieve this.

We came a little short of our $50,000 goal for 50 years, but managed to raise the highest amount at a single fundraiser event to date! We are continually blessed by our community and appreciate every single donation made.

One of JoAnn’s favorite sayings is:

The fight against hunger is ongoing. Will you join us in making a difference?

We would like to thank the following sponsors for their support:

Title Sponsor: Marysville Toyota

Gold Sponsors: Soroptimist of Marysville, Third Street Law, Edward Jones Investments – Andy Smith, Marysville Rotary Noon Club, Abby Van Dam Carpet, Marysville Firefighters Union

Silver Sponsors: Edward Jones – Loren Van Loo, United Health Care

Bronze Sponsors: WAFD Insurance Larry & Linda Jubie, Coastal Community Bank, Windermere Realty – Debbie Barger-Smith, Mulligan Construction

A special thank you to the staff at the Marysville Opera House, 5 Rights Brewery, Marysville Grocery Outlet, Costco, Catering by Tara Helm, and Jake Schumacher for his videography.

Tara Mizell, Renae James and Dana Barstad, thank you so much for your talent and expertise to make this function such a great success. We would not have been able to pull this event off without the help of these special ladies to whom we are indebted!

DONAT

Volunteers in the Spotlight

“Volunteering is at the very core of being a human. No one has made it through life without someone else’s help.” – Heather French Henry

Volunteer of the Year: Steven Smith

In April, we announced Steve as the MCFB’s Volunteer of the Year! If you’ve spent any time at the Food Bank over the last seven years, you’ve surely had the chance to meet him. He’s usually leading the way for our parking team, which is a huge task and has really changed over the years as we navigated drive-in food distribution during COVID-19 and have now switched to appointment-based slots. He truly is a leader among our volunteers, is a great teacher and extends a warm welcome to every one of our clients, as well as new volunteers just beginning to learn the ropes.

Thank you, Steve, for your leadership and how you love the Marysville community through your actions!

January: Carolyn Rudio

Carolyn has been volunteering for about three years now and helps us with sorting, packing, stocking shelves, home delivery, and distribution. For her, being at the MCFB is very rewarding and the perfect way to give back and make some new friends. Before she retired, she was a special education teacher for 32 years. In her free time, she enjoys outdoor adventures such as gardening, bird watching, and watching the beautiful evening skies. Thank you, Carolyn!

February: Matt Smith

Give it up for Matt! He’s been volunteering with us  for the last 10 years. We’re so grateful for his dedication and heart to serve. He’s the reason the sorting area is always neat and tidy and has been a big part of the Simple Gesture program over the years. It’s so good to have you, Matt.

March: Steven Kiffe

Steven has been around the MCFB for over 10 years! He’s a key volunteer with the Simple Gesture program. When he’s not at the Food Bank, he’s working as a data coordinator at a biotech firm in Everett. Volunteering is a family affair, since his wife was the one who introduced him to us and his daughter has helped out as well. For Steven, the Food Bank performs a vital duty for the city and he’s proud to help all people who are in need. In his spare time, you’ll find him practicing his new-found hobby — archery! Thank you for a decade of your time and dedication to helping our community.

April: Andrea Hansen

Andrea is nearing her two year anniversary volunteering at the Food Bank. Her main jobs are dairy distribution and creating Food For Thought bags for homeless students in our community. The reason she keeps coming back to volunteer is because she believes that giving people nutritious foods is the foundation for their wellbeing. We couldn’t agree more! In her spare time, you’ll find her gardening, doing needlework, going on walks or reading.

Thank you, Andrea, for your heart to serve!

May: Jim & Judi Berger

The Berger’s have officially been volunteering for about two years, but Judi has had her hand in food relief for a long time. Back in the 80s, she helped our founder JoAnn Mulligan fill bags of food for the hungry and run food drives. Nowadays, Jim enjoys hunting from his cabin in Ellensburg and Judi likes to read, quilt and spend as much time as possible with her grandkids.

June: Joan Gibson

Joan started volunteering at the MCFB a year ago, all because her friend Lynn who invited her. She volunteers on Tuesdays, inspecting all of the incoming food to make sure it’s of the highest quality for our clients. Before retiring, her career spanned from Boeing, to a housecleaning business, and ended in health care. Now, she enjoys painting, gardening and cooking. She keeps coming back because she loves the people she meets and being able to give back.

We’re so glad to have you part of our team, Joan!

Letter from the Director

It’s amazing how fast six months have passed by already. We have made several changes, including our “Fresh Produce” initiative. We’re thankful for our “Grocery Rescue” program that provides us non-sellable or on the edge of expiration items from our local stores. Unfortunately, we haven’t been receiving the variety or high quality of fresh produce we believe our clients deserve. Our “Giving Gardens” program is a great way you can help. Simply bring any home grown produce from your garden to supplement what we are given. Thank you to the Tulalip Tribes Charitable Fund for your support of this initiative!

We have also expanded our Pop-up Pantry Program. We’re serving two senior living facilities (The Vintage at Lakewood & Meadow Park in Marysville), Twin Lakes (Housing Hope) in Lakewood which is our newest addition, and The Keep Dreams Alive Foundation that supports the Hispanic Community.

The Marysville Community Food Bank is going green. Thank you to the City of Marysville with their Community Development Block Grant which awarded us capital funds for July 2024 - June 2026 for a new roof and solar panels. Thank you to Riverside Roofing for our beautiful new roof!

We have made some major enhancements in our security protocols, not just for our donor database credit card processor, but for all our computers and computer programs. At this time, we can take credit card donations on our website through PayPal (Square) or Venmo.

As this celebratory year continues, don’t miss out on these initiatives!

• Food For Thought Backpack Program is gearing up for the 2024 - 2025 school year, where our team of dedicated volunteers will begin to help over 650 students who deal with food insecurity by providing weekend meals each week.

• The Holiday Toy Store fundraising efforts will be starting any day now. Last year, we provided over 2,000 children with items to brighten their holiday. Find more information on our website: https://www.marysvillefoodbank.org/toy-store

• Thanksgiving Distribution for our clients will be held on November 22nd, 25th, & 26th.

• Christmas Distribution for our clients will be held on December 16th, 17th, & 20th.

With warm regards,

— Amy Howell

Executive Director

2023 Impact

1,665,604 lbs

of food received

18,909 lbs

of additional homegrown produce received

1,711,208 lbs

of food distributed

3,907 meals on average

distributed per day

23% of the food

distributed were fresh fruits and vegetables

552 volunteers

logged over 36,000 hours

24,139 households

served, equal to over 69,500+ individuals

16,006 lbs

of food brought in by A Simple Gesture Program

20,171 bags

handed out through our Food For Thought Program

650 children

received a Food For Thought bag every week

2,063 children

received gifts through our Holiday Toy Store