Greater Chehalis Food Bank volunteers Bill Reed, left, and Gary Buehler sort food that was donated to the food bank from W.F. West High School's food drive on Tuesday afternoon in Chehalis.
Greater Chehalis Food Bank volunteers Bill Reed, left, and Gary Buehler sort food that was donated to the food bank from W.F. West High School's food drive on Tuesday afternoon in Chehalis.
Bill Reed, a volunteer with the Greater Chehalis Food Bank, shows what makes up a box of food that is given to families of 1 to 3 people at the food bank in Chehalis.
The holidays can put extra financial pressure on families, and to make ends meet, more Lewis County residents are stopping into their local food banks.
To keep shelves in the county’s eight food banks stocked, citizens, businesses and community organizations have been collecting food, bringing in thousands of pounds in recent weeks.
Bonnie Pedersen, volunteer president of the Lewis County Food Bank Coalition, said the food banks are busiest beginning about two weeks before Thanksgiving through the end of December with an increase in both clients and donations.
“We have a wonderful group of volunteers, and because it’s about six weeks all together, we do scramble … we’re very busy,” Pedersen said.
Donations made to the coalition are doled out to the eight food banks in the county based on a percentage of clients served formula.
The eight food banks are: the White Pass Food Bank in Randle, the Morton Food Bank, the SOMMA Food Bank in Salkum, the Toledo Food Bank, the Winlock-Vader Food Bank in Winlock, the Pe Ell Food Bank, the Centralia Salvation Army Food Bank and the Greater Chehalis Food Bank.
Pedersen didn’t have a total for how much food has been collected in recent weeks, but it’s been thousands of pounds, she said.
“Across the whole county is such a generous giving place,” Pedersen said.
The individual food banks also receive donations directly.
Salvation Army Major DeWayne Halstad with the Centralia food bank said it received nearly 3,000 pounds of food from Centralia High School’s “Food Feud” with W.F. West High School in Chehalis.
The food collected by Chehalis students went to the Chehalis food bank.
The Centralia Rotary Club also just donated $2,500 to the food bank for Thanksgiving turkeys.
But Halstad said it’s not just food that’s needed; hygiene products such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, toilet paper, soap and razors are needed by food bank clients as well.
During the holiday season, toys and gifts for parents to give to their children are also collected. Halstad said they collect gifts for all ages.
“We can always use donations of toys too, for teenagers especially. ... A lot of people buy toys for other kids, but not a lot for teenagers,” Halstad said.
The Centralia Food Bank helps about 800 families at Christmas compared to 500 to 600 during other months of the year.
Some of the money collected in the Salvation Army’s red kettles goes toward buying holiday food as well as sustaining programs throughout the year.
“(People) think we’re out there earlier than normal. We have to get out early to raise money to pay for the food for Thanksgiving,” he said.
Halstad said the food bank can always use volunteers, not just during the holiday season, but throughout the year as well.
