Share, Vancouver’s biggest provider of services to the homeless and hungry, has reported a tremendous outpouring of giving from the local community to people in need.
More than 24,000 pounds of food were donated to Share in the past two months. That will benefit the 650 children participating in Share’s Backpack Program, which provides weekend food to be taken home from school, as well as Share’s Hot Meals Program, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Share was also able to provide 300 Thanksgiving food boxes and 650 supplemental Thanksgiving food packs for its Backpack Program participants.
“We are so delighted by the response of our community to recognize the increased need of individuals and families who are struggling with the costs of daily living expenses and often finding that they do not have enough money left to put food on the table,” said Share’s executive director, Diane Christie, in a news release.
According to Share, a “Striking Out Hunger in Clark County” food drive was organized by Rip Ramsey with Bulldogs Baseball Academy, a premier league for youth ages 9 to 14. The weekend before Thanksgiving, 60 participants of the academy went door to door and collected more than 4,500 pounds of nonperishable food items. This is the fourth year the academy has held a food drive for Share.
“I wanted to give the kids a chance to give back to their community,” said Ramsey. “They were so enthusiastic and happy to help others — it was a great thing to see and I’m very proud of all of them.”
The Rotary Club of Vancouver collected 5,000 pounds of food, as well as raising $33,000, at the Festival of Trees on Nov. 28. Other food drives included “Stuff the Bus,” organized by the classified staff of Evergreen Public Schools in October, which brought in 8,325 pounds; a food drive competition between Evergreen and Union High Schools in early November, which generated more than 6,000 pounds; and an Amtrak food drive that brought in 550 pounds.
Many businesses, organizations and individuals helped Share fill Thanksgiving food boxes and supplemental Backpack Program packs, including: Reser’s Fine Foods, which donated supplemental food for 1,000 food packs; Michael Brusseau and Bank of America, who donated 25 turkeys; and Gary and Cindy Stecher, who donated 35 completed food boxes.
Also helping out were Biggs Insurance, Tim Lannigan, Tony Bernatovicz, River Rock Church, East Woods Presbyterian Church, Community of Christ Church, Marvin Schwarz, Steve Wold, Janice Shipley, Kuni Automotive, Tami Thompson, and Tiana and Dan Meckel.
Food drives benefiting Share are always welcome. For help in organizing one or to arrange a drop-off of collected food, contact Tarinn Smith, Share’s hunger response director, at 360-695-7658 ext. 3304, or hungerresponse@sharevancouver.org.
Share operates four shelters for the homeless as well as many other programs including transitional housing, case management, street outreach, daily meals, summer meals for low-income children and the weekend Backpack Program. For more information, visit www.sharevancouver.org.
