Marysville Community Food Bank

Loaves & Fishes

Our Mission

Enhancing the lives

of our neighbors by

nourishing their bodies,

hearts and souls to build

a brighter future.

Board of Directors

President: Mike Mulligan

Vice President: Alonna Chatburn

Secretary: Sherry Haigh

Treasurer: Robyn Warren

Perry McConnell

Daniel Pradera

Andy Smith

Ty Wernet

Food Bank Director Dell Deierling

Assistant Director Amy Howell

Volunteer Coordinator JoAnn Sewell

"The greater

the challenge,

the greater the

opportunity

for growth."

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VOLUME 20, ISSUE 2 JUNE 2020

Newsletter Editor Sherry Haigh

Design Barbara Edmondson

Message from Director Dell Deierling

Unprecedented Times Have Brought Unprecedented Support What a wild ride it has been for the Marysville Community Food Bank these last few months. Our volunteers, staff, board—and those we serve—have all been through so much.

In January, February and early March, we faced a challenge we'd set for ourselves. Reconfiguring our layout, creating new processes, reassigning volunteer roles and educating our clients consumed us as we pushed to implement the latest in food banking practices: the grocery store model. This way of service allows clients to 'shop' the Food Bank unassisted, go where they want within the shopping area, select the foods they want (within guidelines) and handle the food themselves. Implementing this new way of serving was a huge step that required a tremendous effort from all involved.

We ran the model for one day on Monday, March 9. The very next day, the potential risks of COVID-19 forced us to start reversing our practices. By Friday of that week we asked our clients to remain outside. Our processes changed daily as we scrambled to figure out how to adapt to the requirements of distancing while also meeting the huge spike in the number families in need of food. When the sudden peak in unemployment hit, our numbers skyrocketed from an average of 329 families per week to as many as 499 on our highest week.

I am so thankful for the volunteers who saw us through these trying times: those who had to take a leave of absence to safeguard their health, those who took a risk and stuck it out, those who stepped up to take greater roles and those who jumped in anew to keep our doors open. This photo, taken in March, captures just some of our amazing volunteers!

I am so thankful for our partnership with the City of Marysville. The City's Emergency Management team came to the rescue and helped us establish a service process that allows us to keep everyone safe while managing the large volume of families we are now serving. This partnership with the City—and the joint learnings we gained—make our community more prepared for future emergencies requiring the distribution of food and supplies. And our new backup generator (see details on page 3) positions us even better for such a response.

I am so thankful for the cooperation and understanding of those we serve. Seniors and others who were familiar with using the MCFB in the past had to adapt to huge changes in how they got food from us. And for the many new families we helped, they had to accept what we now consider to be an outdated method of receiving food. continued on page 3 ...

V o l u n t e e r s i n t h e S p o t l i g h t We thank all our volunteers, whose hard work and dedication allow us to serve our community. Here are our recent Volunteers of the Month!

January: Stephen & Mackenzi Oswald, Matt & Jennifer Chapman

Since October of 2019, Stephen and Mackenzi Oswald (left) and Matt and Jennifer Chapman—who are Mackenzi's parents!—have been volunteering every Saturday morning. This 'Squad of Four' organizes stock, grinds coffee, bundles Top Ramen and even makes emergency grocery store rescue runs. Basically, they do whatever is needed, and always with a kind and helpful attitude. Stephen is a student at Western Washington University and Mac-kenzi is a scientist. They enjoy photography, kayaking, cooking and baking. Matt is a pharma-ceutical sales rep and Jennifer is a teacher. Matt and Jennifer enjoy traveling, hiking and dining out. The two couples enjoy spending their free time together, especially when they are volunteering. We are so lucky that they all chose MCFB as the place to do just that!

February: Barb LaMere Eight years ago, after being retired from a Sears Re-plenishment team for two years, Barb LaMere came to the MCFB looking for a way to help those who are less

fortunate. Amy Howell put her right to work on Thursday mornings

assembling packs of food for the Food for Thought program. It wasn't long before Barb showed up on Monday mornings, too, to help clients during distribution. Besides volunteering here, Barb volunteers with the Cub Scouts of America and was even awarded the Silver Beaver Award for fourteen years of distinguished service. Barb and her husband, Thomas, have one son, Craig, and a daughter, Michele. In her free time, Barb enjoys embroidery stitching. Thank you, Barb, for giving your time at MCFB to help those in need!

March: All March Volunteers! March was a month like no other. First, many dedicated volunteers were needed to ready our building for the launch of the new grocery store model—which unfortunately ended after only one day due to COVID-19. Next, the threat of the pandemic forced many of our longtime volunteers to take a hiatus until the threat is over. But there was no need to panic, thanks to all the new volunteers who stepped up to take their places! We can't imagine where we would have been if it wasn't for the existing volunteers who stuck with us, plus all of the new volunteers who joined us just in the nick of time! You saved the day and we couldn't be more grateful. (Many of our March volunteers are pictured on page 1.)

April: Lauren Eno About a year ago, Lauren Eno began volunteering at MCFB to fulfill an Everett Community College Running Start class require-ment. She enjoyed it so much she kept

helping out even after fulfilling her required hours. A recent graduate of Lake Stevens High School, Lauren has joined the Marine Corps and will ship out in Septem-ber. In the meantime, she works as

a sales associate for TJ Maxx, paints, hikes with friends, sews her own alterations and is preparing herself for boot camp by exercising with her fellow 'poolees.' Besides all that, she is at the MCFB not one but four days a week sorting produce and bagging food for distribution. Lauren says she enjoys volunteering and knows the Food Bank makes a big impact on the lives of those in need. We're sure her mom Michelle, dad Gohn, and brother Aiden are very proud of her! We are so lucky to have Lauren as part of our team before she joins a new team with the Marine Corps!

Superheroes Among Us

There are many stories of acts of kindness during this pandemic. It's a privilege to be on the receiving end of some of them. The Grove Church is the star of one such story. On May 16, the church held a telethon on Facebook Live—plus a food drive with donors dropping off food in the church parking lot. In just two hours, $25,000 and over two tons of food had been donated! You are amazing, The Grove Church!

Then there's Lori Butner of Abbey Van Dam Carpet and More. After seeing news that, due to restaurant closures, some Eastern Washington farmers were forced to plow under their crops, Lori, her husband Jeff Butner and fellow employee Don Swobody (on his day off), drove to a potato and onion farm in Othello. There, their box van—loaded with two resurfaced and lined containers provided by Dave Seimering of CalPortland Concrete Seattle—was filled with almost 6,000 pounds of potatoes! And when the farmer offered 50- pound bags of onions for just $5 each, Lori bought 40 bags!

PAGE 2 LOAVES & FISHES JUNE 2020

VOLUME 20, ISSUE 2 LOAVES & FISHES PAGE 3

MCFB

Bulletin

Board

Many Thanks to...

Beef Jerky Outlet for providing our volunteers with beef jerky.

Boy Scouts of America Troop 419 for donating all $1,050 from their Christmas tree recycling.

Camp Fire USA of Snohomish County, who donated 750 box-es of Almond Roca and Almond Caramel Clusters for our clients.

Coastal Farm and Ranch for matching $1,000 on Giving Tuesday. (We received a grand total of $2,710!)

Dutch Bros Coffee Foundation for collecting $3,810.20 for us.

Fahlman Property Group for the mowing and weeding work.

Keller-Williams, whose Red Day Food Drive collected 1,480 lbs. of food.

Lucky 13 Saloon's food drive brought in 2,071 lbs. of food and $400.

Quil Ceda Creek Casino for 2,685 lbs. of food in March.

Malona Richwine, who collected 110 lbs. of food in her neighborhood .

RockCreek Church for 750 lbs. of food plus $1,000.

ServPro for deep cleaning against COVID contamination.

Deanna Skinner and her neighbors who donated $25 gift cards attached to chocolate bars and other goodies as an extra- special surprise for lucky clients.

U.S. Army soldiers who delivered 730 lbs. of food plus essential supplies.

Generator Installation Complete We're better equipped to become a Community Point of Distribution in the event of a widespread emergency now that a commercial propane generator

has been installed, complete with security fencing. Thanks to all who donated funds, to Amy Howell who headed up fundraising, and to our project manager, Ty Wernet, who procured the generator and fencing, secured permits, arranged installation and more. Thanks also to Arlington Electric and Premier Fence for their scheduling flexibility.

Food for Thought Update In spite of school closures during the pandemic, our Food for Thought program continues to serve 150 children in the Lakewood S.D. and 300 children in the Marysville S.D. In Lakewood, in addition to the regular lunches delivered by school buses, packs of weekend food are delivered every Friday to children who might otherwise go without. In Marysville, children in need pick up their weekend packs at school lunch sites. Thank you to Amy Howell and her group of dedicated volunteers!

Thank You, Donors! Albertsons Companies Foundation: $10,000 Community Foundation of Snohomish Co: $5,000 Haggen Foundation: $10,000 Judd & Black Electric: $3,000 Marine Fishing International: $14,000 Marysville Noon Rotary Club: $10,000 Marysville Sunrise Rotary Club: $4,000 Soroptimist International of Marysville: $4,000

And thanks to these organizations for providing our volunteers with lunches: Bleachers Grill, Jersey Mike's and Marysville Attitudes of Gratitude (in cooperation with Cristiano's Pizza Etc and Dutch Bros Coffee). Plus, Haggen provided box lunches for an entire week, and Chick-fil-A gifted our volunteers with a year's worth of weekly meals!

… continued from page 1

I am so thankful for the support of our community. Familiar donors and many new ones responded to help us procure the resources needed to meet the huge increase in need. That need is so great that a Saturday Market Day has been added to distribute personal hygiene products, diapers, household and miscellaneous items by appointment only. There are so many individuals and organizations to thank! We call out many of you in this newsletter, and there are far more besides. To all of you, we are so blessed by your support during this tremendous time of need.

When the reality of COVID-19 hit our community, the number of families we serve doubled immediately and we saw a great number of new faces. It was a reminder that so many in our community live on the edge of needing assistance, just one paycheck away from catastrophe. The Marysville Community Food Bank will continue to play a critical role in providing a safety net for our community as we move forward. And in turn, our community will continue to play a critical role in being a safety net for Marysville Community Food Bank. Thanks to all for catching each other!

Dell Deierling, Director

Marysville Community Food Bank 4150 88th Street NE P.O. Box 917 Marysville, WA 98270-0917 (360) 658-1054 marysvillefoodbank@frontier.com www.marysvillefoodbank.org

Do you know someone in Marysville/Tulalip who need our services? Please encourage them to contact us. Families may come once a week for full service. We are located at 4150 88th Street NE, behind St. Mary's Catholic Church. Distribution days are Tuesdays from 3 to 6 p.m., and Fridays from 9 to 11 a.m. On the last Tuesday of each month, we are open until 6:30 p.m. Seniors age 62 and older and disabled clients are invited to come on Mondays from 9 to 11 a.m., a day specially designated for their service.

Marysville Community Food Bank Supporting Churches

92nd Street Church of Christ

Berean Baptist Church

Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Cascade Christian Reformed Church

Cascade View Presbyterian Church

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Shoultes Ward

Evergreen Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

Faith Lutheran Church ALCW

The Grove Church

Holy Cross Lutheran Church

Living Interfaith Church

Marysville Church of the Nazarene

Marysville Foursquare Church

Marysville Seventh Day Adventist Church

Marysville United Methodist Church

Mountain View Presbyterian Church

St. Anne's Catholic Church

St. Mary's Catholic Church

St. Philip's Episcopal Church