Community helps provide 800-plus Thanksgiving meals

By Matthew Nash • November 23, 2022 1:30 am

More than 800 families received Holiday Meal Bags in time for the Thanksgiving weekend thanks to a community effort of dozens of people.

Organizers with the Family Holiday Food Bag Distribution November event estimate 755 families received meals at Carrie Blake Community Park on Nov. 18 and another 100 bags were delivered.

“Thanks to everyone that helped with the planning, preparation, and distribution of the Holiday Meal Bags,” said Andra Smith, Sequim Food Bank executive director.

“This event is an amazing example of Sequim’s collaborative spirit and we are grateful for our community’s continued support.”

Once again, Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) members, various church-goers and service group members, and other groups turned out to help direct cars, bag food and fill trunks and backseats with hearty meals.

Lou Ann Linder with the Sequim Valley Lions said she helped at the December distribution day last year and said “it feels wonderful to give back to the community and know families will have a meal.”

Smith said they planned to distribute food for 1,200 families through the Nov. 18 event and another 800 for the Dec. 16 (Christmas) distribution day.

She estimated another 100 families being provided meal bags on Nov. 19 and 21, too.

As previously mentioned, Sequim Food Bank has seen a 90 percent uptick between October 2021 and 2022 in usage, Smith said.

As demand goes up, she says the Sequim Food Bank’s primary needs right now are monetary as state and federal relief are being reduced.

To make a donation online, visit sequimfoodbank.org; mail to: Sequim Food Bank, P.O. Box 1453, Sequim WA, 98382. Or, drop off a donation with staff at 144 W. Alder St.

The Sequim Food Bank is open 1-4 p.m. Mondays, and 9 a.m.-noon Fridays and Saturdays. It is closed Nov. 25-26 and re-opens Monday, Nov. 28.

For more information, call 360-683-1205.

The next Family Holiday Meal Bag Distribution is set for 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, starting at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Pat Phillips, past zone chairman with the Sequim Valley Lions, grabs some meal bags to place in a trunk on Nov. 18 during the Family Holiday Food Bag Distribution event.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Karen Hill, left, with Dungeness Community Church, and Marge Swift help Sequim Sunrise Rotary members bag bread and other items for the Family Holiday Food Bag Distribution day.

Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash/ Denice Irish, on left Lou Ann Linder with the Sequim Valley Lions bag bread and other items for the Family Holiday Food Bag Distribution day on Nov. 18 in Carrie Blake Community Park.