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closeSumner Community Food Bank honors donors
With the Sumner Community Food Bank expansion complete, volunteers express their thanks to all the businesses that helped make it a reality
Roxanne Cooke
Not one local company turned down the Sumner Community Food Bank’s requests for help with its remodel, volunteer Tom Powers said during last week’s dedication ceremony.
From donations of labor, food, building materials and monetary contributions, more than a dozen local businesses helped out during the food bank’s expansion, which was completed in June. Plaques were made for each company as an expression of gratitude.
“Times are tough, but the money just seems to be there,” said Robyn DeLorm, food bank treasurer. “We’re really doing okay.”
Investco recently allowed the food bank to take any materials it needed from Washington Court, a former strip mall that will soon be demolished to make way for Investco’s headquarters and a new business complex. Insulation, fans, a heat pump and piping from the site were utilized in the new food bank.
REI regularly sends down employees to help with heavy lifting and also donates PowerBars. McLendon Hardware surprised the food bank last week with a donation of more than $5,000 raised at a golf tournament. The business also gives the food bank a store discount.
Even a monument company donated a stone plaque engraved with “Dedicated to the memory of Alice Sigman whose limitless vision has insured the future of the Sumner Community Food Bank.” Sigman, a longtime food director, died last fall. Food bank members wanted to honor her hard work with the plaque.
The expansion to the food bank building acts as a storage space as well a loading area. Custom Built Structures Inc. of Lynnwood built the 1,024-square-foot facility, which is connected to the main building by a garage door.
The new structure cost approximately $28,000 of the food bank’s savings. DeLorm is working on applying for a grant of $35,000 to refill the savings account.
The rest of the remodel was completed through donations. That includes the floor, repairs to the walk-in freezer and a shelving area designed by Sumner High School architecture teacher Scott Thompson, among other repairs and additions.
Other additions to the remodel, including a set of rolling stairs to reach the upper shelving, may be added in the near future, or as the food bank can afford it.
“We’re just plugging along,” DeLorm said.
The new storage area will also be used for staging and unloading, providing an enclosed area so that cold weather doesn’t get the best of volunteers in the winter.
Food bank volunteers expect their electricity bill to be lower this winter because of the expansion.
“It all worked out,” Powers said. “It just makes it a lot more convenient, especially in the winter time.”