— by Madie Murray —
The Orcas Island Food Bank would like to extend a huge thanks to Orcas Island San Juan Propane for their community support and spirit in creating a fun and successful event to benefit the Food Bank. Their dedication to a week-long open house resulted in 720 pounds of food delivered along with a collected cash donation of $568.00.
It was their outreach call that connected us with their creative and enjoyable team effort, and our appreciation is extended to each member of San Juan Propane’s staff for individual and collaborative work: General Manager Erick Crowe, Office Manager Fiona Stone, Steve Maier, Jerry Davidson, John Vinson, Brian Wilson and Carla Stanley. And our congratulations to the community members who won raffles for free propane and the coveted portable propane generator, and thanks to all of you who dropped by SJP for their event…we’re glad you did! May we look forward to this becoming an annual event?
And that’s not all…
“Over the past few months, we have seen probably the biggest year in giving to the Food Bank ever,” says Food Bank Manager, Jeannie Doty. We’d like to also acknowledge and thank these other amazing people and businesses that have given so much; not just this year, but for many years, and in so many ways:
• The Community Church for the use of its property and paying utilities
• IGA and Island Market shoppers for 420 bags of food
• Mia’s contribution of $501.90 as a result of her restaurant’s “Free Lunch Day”
• Islanders Bank for food and donations
• Orcas Island Lions Club – $500 for Thanksgiving and $500 for Christmas
• Roses for the delivery of breads almost every evening they are open
• Local farmers who provide fresh produce for the Food Bank
• Mark Hoffman – fresh salmon several times a year
• Glenwood Springs Salmon Hatchery – fresh salmon fillets at harvest time
• The many people who regularly collect and leave food in the bin
• Ray’s Pharmacy’s owners, employees and patrons
• Several business around town who collect and leave food all year
• All the many individuals who respond to our annual fund drive and spontaneously all year long
• Any that we have neglected to mention – certainly not on purpose!
And we can’t forget our wonderful volunteers who faithfully help us distribute food to our clients on Tuesdays and Thursday, weekly pick-up of food from the Mainland, and all the other unsung heroes who help selflessly and constantly.
