News Bites from the Food Bank

By Madie Murray

Some exciting things have happened at the Orcas Island Food Bank in the past several weeks that we would like to share.

Mykal Keyes hands $300 to Larry Shaw, Food Bank Board President.

Graduating senior, Mykal Keyes designed her senior project to benefit the food bank which was a delicious meal for the community that she prepared herself in the school cafeteria on May 9.  As a result, she recently handed a generous check to Larry Shaw, Executive Director of the Food Bank Board in the amount of $300.  Our sincere thanks to Mykal for making the Food Bank the recipient of her thoughtful senior project.

The entire graduating class at our public school was again thoughtful of the Food Bank at the Orcas Island Community Foundation Grants Awards Ceremony.  Each year, OICF Partners in Philanthropy give the graduating class $5,000 to give back to the community in any way they wish.  This year, they decided they wanted to give the money to several non-profits that “best filled and basic needs of the community.”  In that vein, they awarded the Food Bank a very generous $1,000.  Our thanks to the entire Senior Class!

As of June 1, the Food Bank officially made Jeannie Doty Food Bank Manager.  Jeannie has been working tirelessly in a volunteer capacity since 2006 making sure the Food Bank was sufficiently stocked, adequately manned, and ready for anything that came its way.  She gets bargains wherever and whenever she finds them, packages and repackages items that are received from Northwest Harvest and other providers to make sure they can be distributed to our clients in usable portions and in efficient ways, and she makes sure the building, the equipment it holds and the inventory is always ready.   She is largely responsible for how smoothly things run at the Food Bank and we are so grateful for her dedication.

Anika’s photos beautifully portray the ingredients and the meal that was prepared with those ingredients.

Some very beautiful photographs will soon adorn the walls of our new Food Bank building on Madrona that were taken by Anika Thomas, Joyce and Larry Shaw’s grandson’s fiancée who has spent the last 3 years studying photography, and in particular food photography, at Seattle Central Community College.  One of her assignments before graduating this June was to create an ad campaign for a non-profit.  The main goal of her assignment was to encourage the shoppers at the Food Bank to choose healthy items and cook nutritious meals for themselves and their families.  Each photo will have the recipe for the items pictured that Food Bank clients can take with them.   Anika says, “I love what the food bank does for our little community and I have enjoyed volunteering and helping out when I can.”  Anika graduated from the Orcas Christian School in 2009.

For hours and information about the Food Bank, visit the web site any time at www.orcasislandfoodbank.org.