Thousands Flock to Fuller’s Food Giveaway

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Donna Marshall showed up at Fuller’s Shop’n Kart  at about 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

She brought a bright pink bag with her, as well as a wheelchair and her small respiratory oxygen tank.

After more than three hours waiting in the increasingly warm parking lot, Marshall was the first person of thousands to receive a free bag of frozen food from a refrigerated truck stocked and passed out by Fuller’s employees and other volunteers.

With bags of frozen vegetables and a pair of macaroni and cheese pizzas in the seat of her wheelchair, Marshall was ready to push off for home.

“I didn’t want to deal with all of that,” Marshall said as she pointed to the throngs of people waiting their turn. “I don’t have a lot of money, so this will definitely help.”

The line behind Marshall wove through rows of tape held up by overturned shopping carts. It took up more than a third of the Fuller’s parking lot before transitioning onto the sidewalk and down Plum Street towards Pearl Street.

More than $35,000 worth of food was given away by the local grocery store Wednesday afternoon in a gesture of goodwill and appreciation for decades of patronage by the Centralia-Chehalis community.

Each adult was handed a bag filled with a random assortment of vegetables, starches and occasional frozen novelties.

Enough people showed up by noon to flank both sides of the truck. Some brought umbrellas to shield themselves from the heat while others, like Charles Landry of Centralia, brought lawn chairs.



“It means a lot for us and our three kids on a limited income,” Landry said. “Food is so expensive now, that even food stamps go pretty fast.”

Some families came all together to pick up their goodies. Stephen Castro brought his three children along. His sister and her two kids also took part in the giveaway.

Castro found out about the event on social media, where word spread like wildfire after it was announced Monday. His group drove in from Chehalis to claim their free food.

“This helps a lot with us having the kids at home all summer,” Castro said.

Alesha McDaniel, Vice President of Shop’n Kart, said she never expected people to arrive hours before the event started nor for the line to wrap around half of a city block.

Giving away a truckload of food likely isn’t feasible as a regular occurrence, she said, but she hopes to have future opportunities to have a positive impact.

“It’s awesome to see,” McDaniel said. “It shows us we’re all one community and that we can give back while supporting local business.”