From the Director

What a great job I have! Not only are people being helped each and every minute of the day – YOU are coming in and make donations to help us! It’s exciting to receive a check “because I was thinking of you” or “I was poor and I remember how it felt”... Your donations are put to use immediately! The results for our client are immediate!

I’ve often spoke of making our lobby area comfortable for clients – we know it’s hard to come here – no one wants to admit they need help with food…..so if they have to come – I want the lobby to be warm and welcoming! Already down on your luck, you don’t need to walk into a building that isn’t comfortable. Last year, a team from the Leadership Institute of South King County came through with a partnership with Newcastle Flooring and put in new carpet! This year a team partnering with Kustom Koats, Inc. painted the lobby! Amazing what a new coat of paint will do! We had clients tell us “it’s peaceful here!” What a great compliment to this Leadership Team, as well!

Coming soon – through the Leadership Institute – will be “drop off boxes” made for us through a partnership with Green River College. This LI Team talked about “leaving a legacy” – an ongoing project that would sustain a need here at the food bank for years to come! Through our talks with them – one of the things I said we don’t get donated often, or much of, is hygiene products. And we all need hygiene products! Food stamps cannot be used for the basic necessities like toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoos, etc. This team “ran” with that idea and have come up with a nicely designed, painted, lettered, drop boxes that will sit at a few grocery stores in town, as well as one here at the food bank – sitting outside our building – for you to swing by and have a spot to leave them if we are closed. Think of all the things in your bathroom, laundry room and under your kitchen sink! These are all items our clients need and cannot afford.

We will be launching a new web site: www.theauburnfoodbank.org designed for us by Michael O’Brien of Praece Strategic Technology Consulting. We are so grateful for the incredible work he has put into this project for us! From this site, you will be able to contact us with any questions, fnd out what projects are going on that you can help with, fnd out what foods/products we need, catch up on news, listen to client success stories, and place on-line donations. Watch for a Facebook page as well!

I’d like to personally invite you to call and make a reservation for “Dueling Out Hunger”! This will be a VERY fun night – with fantastic food at the Longhorn Restaurant! July 1 - $25.00 per person.

‘Dueling Pianos’ will keep you entertained! Never heard of this…..well, while one piano player starts to play a song…you discover you may not like the song….so you donate money to the other piano player to play YOUR favorite song and thus the “dueling” begins……you gotta watch your back – someone may not like YOUR song!!!

Thanks for all you do to keep this food bank in operation! 96 cents from every $1.00 goes right to work the minute you give it!!! AND, every dollar can be stretched to $4.50 because of our bulk buying and deal making power! Think of the investment!

Debbie Christian, Executive Director