Food bank receives a load of turkeys

By Dennis Box

The Courier-Herald

The spirit of giving is alive and well in Bonney Lake.

Ron and Henri Troth, owners of the recently opened Grocery Outlet located at 18318 state Route 410 E, donated 10 Butterball turkeys to the senior center for its Thanksgiving dinner and gave 50 turkeys to the Bonney Lake Food Bank along with taking $1 off each of the 25 hams the food bank purchased.

The Troths also gave the food bank a $100 gift card during their grand opening in September.

&#8220They are so cool and they are very community minded,” said Sharon Chavers, director of the food bank. &#8220We have a really good relationship with them.”

Chavers said the food bank serves an average of 250 to 300 families each month with a recent increase of four to six clients each day.

&#8220We're seeing more new clients than we have before,” Chavers said. &#8220A lot of new people are coming into the area. They would rather be anywhere else (than at the food bank). We try to make them as comfortable as possible.”

Chavers said recently someone anonymously dropped off 300 pounds of food, leaving it outside the food bank.

&#8220I'd love to know who does these things,” Chavers said. &#8220But we are really blessed. This community is fantastic.”

Victor Falls Elementary School delivered 800 pounds of canned food, paper products and other food items the students and staff had collected.

Grocery Outlet wasn't alone, as Safeway and Albertsons donated bread, pastries, cakes and pies.

Chavers said many community members help the food bank, including those who have used the service in the past.

She said the food bank needs all the help it can get. After restocking on Monday, the shelves are nearly bare by Friday.

The clients receive one food basket per month with about 10 meals based on family size. Families also are allowed two commodity boxes per month, containing food provided by government's Commodity Supplemental Food Program.

Food bank hours are 9:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Chavers is retiring as the director and Melvain Donyes was scheduled to over as the new director Tuesday.

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.