VOLUME 23, ISSUE 3
Holidays are right around the corner
Kids are back into their school routines, the pumpkin spice latte has made it’s arrival, and we’re back to discussing when the appropriate time is to start listening to Christmas music and pulling out the festive decorations. This is a busy season for all, which includes the Food Bank! Here are the main updates:
On Nov 6th, we switched to appointment-based distribution to address the growing safety concerns our volunteers and clients faced due to early arrivals/long wait times. Thank you for your patience as we make this shift!
The needs of our community are growing, so we’re scaling up our service to ensure no person has to go hungry in Marysville. To give you an idea of this increase in need, we’re serving an additional 40-50 people per service over last year on any given day.
We will be adding a holiday/seasonal section to our grocery shopping model this year. Our holiday items, including turkey, whole chicken, or game hens, come in at about $50 per family. Please consider donating to help provide for the over 1,500 clients we anticipate serving.
Can you help? Please consider supporting a family of four for a year with a $1,000 gift. You can do that over a year with a monthly commitment of $84. Becoming a monthly supporter at any level is a huge benefit enabling us to plan and affect situations rather than react to them. To donate, please click the button below:
The Marysville Community Food Bank Toy Store & Marysville Police Community Coat Drive
Registration for Toy Store 2023 is officially open through November 30th. This in-person gift selection event was created to ensure that every child in Marysville, Lakewood, and Tulalip receives at least one new gift this holiday season. From dolls, to basketballs, to Nerf guns, to bikes... we have something every kid would get excited about!
The Toy Store will be held at a new location, Generations Church on 64th St, and appointments are available between December 12-14th, 2023.
The Marysville Police Department is counting on you to donate new coats for children and teens to be distributed through the Toy Store. Drop off site: 501 Delta Ave. For more information about the Toy Store or coat drive, please visit our website:
Volunteer Picnic & Volunteer of the Year
On a bright, sunny day in August our amazing volunteers were honored at a picnic held at the Food Bank where we ate our fill of delicious pizza donated by Coconut Kenny’s plus sumptuous homemade sides brought by volunteers who just can’t stop giving.
A highlight of the event was the announcement of Volunteer of the Year, Kevin Boldt! Every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday Kevin checks clients out as they leave with bags full of food. He’s the person in charge at our Last-Wednesday-of-the-Month distribution. Kevin sorts donations of shelf stable foods and keeps shelves stocked with cereal and sides for distribution. He also manages the “unusual items” section.
Between volunteering at MCFB and with Knights of Columbus at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, it doesn’t seem that Kevin would have time to play FarmVille and Animal Crossing or go camping, but drinking a good cup of Local’s Coffee while listening to music? That’s something he always has time for! We can’t thank you enough, Kevin, for making time to help those in need at MCFB!
Our Volunteers of the Month
May: The Produce Team
Did you know it takes 15 people countless hours to sort, trim, and repackage all of the produce that comes into the Food Bank each week? Thank you — Ann Forslof, Billie Mooers, Brie Thompson, Carlee Warner, Collin Smith, Denise Tate-Miller, Doris Irvin, Josh Hollis, Lisa Coonts, Marian Smith, Rita Carmen, Sheralyn Craig, Sue Cooper, Terry Snodgrass and Zita Pryer — for all your hard work providing our clients with nutritious fresh produce!
June: Karen Hammontree
Karen is a treasured member of the Food for Thought Program. She fills out spreadsheets, packs weekend bags for kids who would otherwise go hungry, and delivers those packs to schools. A volunteer for nine years, Karen is a retired office manager and substitute secretary for Marysville School District. She’s a mother of three sons, grandmother of six granddaughters and great-grandmother of two littles ones.
July: John Shields
Six months ago when a Food Bank volunteer told John Shields that we needed drivers for grocery rescue pickups, he accepted the invitation. He helps with Food for Thought, too! Retired from the USAF, the Washington State Department of Corrections, and the Boeing Co, John is married with two adult children.
August: Jim Adrian
Jim Adrian began volunteering at the Food Bank in 2017, but soon left for Saipan to help rebuild after Typhoon Hanna. Thankfully, his return to the US meant that he returned to MCFB, too! He unloads deliveries and then stocks shelves with those donations. A retired teacher, Jim has four daughters, a son, and eight grandchildren.
“Now is an especially busy time at the Food Bank...”
We always have an increase in our community’s need at this time of year as people whose summer employment has ended may be waiting for their holiday employment gig to begin, or they just finished getting the kiddos ready for the school year and realize they went over budget and need a little help for a few months to get back on track. Inflation has been hitting everyone hard this year and we are seeing more and more clients every week.
In 2022 we served 16,347 families. Through September 2023, we have already served 17,723 families. To serve this increase our wonderful volunteers have already served 4,699 more hours than last year to date.
This year we chose to emphasize a dairy initiative where we worked to provide milk, eggs, butter, and various other products on a weekly basis. Milk, eggs, and butter are essential items that help make a complete meal from the average of 70 pounds of food we provide weekly to each family.
In closing, on behalf of the clients, volunteers, staff, and the MCFB board of directors let me wish you and yours a safe, happy, and joyous holiday season.
— Jim Beaudoin
Executive Director
A Special Thanks to Alonna and Sherry
Alonna Chatburn
After over 15 years of committed service to the Food Bank, Alonna decided to step down from her position as Vice President of the Board. That doesn’t mean she left the Food Bank, as she can still be seen volunteering when she isn’t spending extra quality time with her cat. We’re grateful for Alonna’s heart for serving our clients and caring for this community. Besides her service on the Board, she wrote the newsletter, handled banking and bill-paying. Thank you, Alonna!
Sherry Haigh
You probably recognize Sherry because she has played a vital role at the MCFB for the last 16 years. She worked directly with clients, helped at the dairy counter, edited this very newsletter, and joined the Board in 2009 becoming the Board Secretary soon after. Sherry’s leaving big shoes to fill as she’s decided to step down from the Board at the end of the year to spend more time with her grandchildren, creating photo books, and doing some of her own writing. Forever grateful for you, Sherry!
In Loving Memory
We were saddened to learn of the loss of two well-loved, longtime volunteers, Lois Lewis in July and Jack Lybyer in September. We will miss them dearly!
Jack volunteered for over 18 years deciding it was time to retire fourteen years ago when he turned 80. He began volunteering with his wife, Harriet, until her passing.Then, after marrying Joyce, she joined him here, too. None of us who knew Jack will ever forget his kindness, his warm smile and his hearty laugh.
Lois volunteered for 12 years with her husband, Dave, until he passed away in 2009. Lois was a very caring, friendly person with a quick wit who had a heart for those who were down and out.