Volunteers build new porch for Everett church’s food bank

Published 1:30 am Saturday, October 15, 2016

EVERETT — The stairs and front porch at Faith Food Bank were rickety. A wooden post gave way when someone leaned against it.

When a woman was lifted in her wheelchair onto the porch, a board broke.

Faith Lutheran Church along Cady Road in Everett wanted to make their food bank safe and accessible to everyone.

More than two dozen volunteers spent Oct. 8 at the food bank. Some built a new wooden porch featuring a ramp. Others organized canned food and clothing donations on shelves. One man from the Union Gospel Mission brought a barbecue to cook hamburgers for volunteers.

Wayne Nisbet, a retired construction manager, had open-heart surgery in 2009 and couldn’t do the heavy lifting. But he offered his experience and instructed volunteers, including a young boy who helped his father smooth wet concrete. The boy left a small hand print in the porch’s foundation.

“They were always happy, which is what you really want in a thing like this. You want people to enjoy it and get involved and get the job done,” Nisbet said.

Within six hours, despite wind and rain, the porch was built.

“We all worked together as a community, which is kind of rare these days,” Nisbet said.

Roxana Boroujerdi, the food bank manager, headed the project. Some may know her at the woman who drives through the Silver Lake and Forest Park areas during the summers in an ice cream truck.

During the colder months, she hosts community dinners at Faith Lutheran Church. About 65 people come to eat and visit with friends every Tuesday. She sees a need.

“I read an article in my church magazine about hunger in Washington. It said that one in four kids in the state of Washington has insufficient food,” Boroujerdi said.

The congregation began receiving more food donations than they needed last year for the weekly dinners. So, Boroujerdi handed out the excess food at her home.

A building owned by the church opened not too long after and became what is now the food bank on Cady Road.

Over the past year, the Faith Food Bank handed out more than 20,000 meals, 61 backpacks filled with school supplies and 80 Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets.

Caitlin Tompkins: 425-339-3192; ctompkins@heraldnet.com.