Shoreline’s Food Lifeline agency, which provides 22 million pounds of food to the hungry and the poor through food banks each year, is facing an unusual dilemma: record numbers of volunteers.
It is a strange problem, but a real one, because the organization doesn’t have enough food to give away, officials said.
A record number of volunteers donated their time at Food Lifeline in November and the trend shows no signs of slowing down in December, Karen Chernotsky, the volunteer manager at Food Lifeline.
But the story is different with food donations.
“Volunteerism is increasing and it’s very popular, but the food is not keeping up with interested people,” Chernotsky said. “We might have to consider the real possibility of either having to slow people down or say thanks for your availability but we don’t have enough food for you to work right now.”
Food Lifeline’s dilemma is familiar to Edmonds-area food banks, said Peggy Kennedy, director of the food bank at the Edmonds United Methodist Church.
Volunteerism is up, but demand is so great that donations seem to be lagging.
“Even those who are having a hard time themselves are trying to help. I think everybody wants to pitch in,” Kennedy said. “But I think every food bank is feeling it.”
The food bank rationed its large turkeys this year, only giving them away to families of six people or larger, Kennedy said. And while chickens, potatoes, dressing, produce, pastries, canned yams and more were also available, Kennedy said she’s aware that the need is almost insatiable.
Increasing need
Despite the rise in volunteerism, food banks including Hopelink in Shoreline have noted an increasing need for donations as the number of people who rely on the services expands during a weak economic time.
Over the past year, the number of families served by Hopelink’s centers in Bellevue, Bothell, Carnation, Kirkland, Redmond and Shoreline has increased by 26 percent, according to Hopelink’s public relations specialist Denise Stephens.
In addition, requests for emergency food bags increased by 71 percent during the same period and calls requesting information on housing have increased from 30 calls per day to more than 50 per day.
“Hopelink is experiencing a dramatic increase in requests for help over the past year,” she said.
The need is expected to continue growing through the holidays and beyond.
At the Shoreline Hopelink center on Westminster Way North, 15,571 visits were recorded between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007. During the same period in 2008, the number of visits rose by about 10 percent to 17,168, Stephens said.
The nonprofit is currently distributing approximately 18,000 pounds of food more a month than the agency is receiving in donations. This trend doesn’t necessarily mean that donations are down, according to Stephens but rather that donations are not keeping pace with the increase in need.
A time to give
Asking for donations and money is never an easy task, according to Nataliya Semez, a development officer for the Max Foundation, an Edmonds nonprofit that helps people with blood-related cancers throughout the world.
“There are so many needs,” she said. “The best way to make a gift is to find a charity you can relate to for its mission or goals.”
For a group of friends and family members from Fremont, Lynnwood, Seattle and Shoreline, the needs they help fulfill change on a regular basis. The group began four years ago when they decided to help others in some way. Since then, the Faith and Action Team, as they call themselves, has scoured garage sales to help those less fortunate, held toy drives and most recently collected 2,482 pounds of food for Food Lifeline by posting fliers on doors in the Sand Point neighborhood in Seattle.
“It’s a group of people interesting in helping people,” said Warren Beach of Lynnwood said. “We just try to keep finding things that are new and different to do. Our ideal dream is to get somebody that’s excited to do what we just did. Just think of all the neighborhoods we could canvas by getting 12 to 24 people to put something like this on and pick it up on the weekend.”
Ultimately, it’s up to the individual or group to decide how they will donate this year or any year, Semez said.
“There are so many organizations that do great jobs,” she said. “We hope people will find it in their heart to just give. It’s a great time to be thankful and to give.”
Enterprise reporter Chris Fyall contributed to this report.
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