Last year, City Councilmember Laurie Carter challenged the city staff to collect jars of peanut butter for the Bonney Lake Food Bank, promising to match the staff’s donation with a contribution of her own.

When the results were tallied, the staff collected 140 jars of the high-protein food, which Carter then matched (along with a few anonymous donors) bringing the total contribution to more than 370 pounds of the sticky spread.

This year, Carter is upping the ante and again throwing down the gauntlet to both the city council and staff, announcing at the Nov. 15 council meeting that she would pledge a quarter for every can of food donated by city staff, up to $100.

That comes to approximately three cans of food per staffer.

Mayor Neil Johnson and Councilmembers Jim Rackley and Donn Lewis promised to match her pledge and according to an email from Carter, an unnamed department head has also agreed to match, bringing the total to $1.25 for every can of food donated by city staff.

Carter said she was buoyed by the peanut butter drive in the city last year, as a well as a similar challenge she issued at her workplace. Carter said the idea of the competition is to get people excited and involved in giving and to get them to start early and give often.

Carter also said she was spurred into action by seeing the ever-increasing need at the Bonney Lake food bank, which this holiday season expects to serve nearly double the number of people served last year.

“The needs are greater every year,” she said.

Carter said she also likes to highlight many of the fundraisers and food drives being conducted throughout the city, such as the Bonney Lake Police Department’s Shop With a Cop program (which raised nearly $2,000 this year to take kids Christmas shopping) and the city’s giving tree and food drive, hosted at the Public Safety Building, 18421 Sumner-Buckley Hwy. E.

The Bonney Lake food bank is located at 18409 Sumner-Buckley Hwy. E. and they are always accepting donations.