Jan. 3 — Sumner food bank bounces back from shortage

Sumner Food Bank is no longer short on holiday goods, and provided plenty of holiday goods this season

Roxanne Cooke / of the Herald

Despite its November food shortage, the Sumner Community Food Bank has bounced back and is well-stocked once again.

While donations to the food bank typically decrease from August to October, the November shortage seemed unusual to food bank volunteers and board members. However, once food drives started to come in, their worries ceased.

“We had a good amount of food,” said Randall Tron, food bank president.

Local schools that had fall food drives donated more than 5,000 pounds of food in late November. Those donations provided a lot of the canned pumpkin, turkeys, stuffing, cranberry sauce and other holiday-related meal items used in the food bank’s annual Christmas basket giveaway.

“People were very, very generous this year,” said Jeanette Hirano, volunteer coordinator.

There was enough food — even turkeys, which volunteers were most concerned about — for the baskets, and customers were extremely grateful, she said.

“They got the full course,” Hirano added.

Even with some extra customers, there has been enough food, she said. The temporary closure of the Puyallup FISH Food Bank has meant more traffic for Sumner, but it isn’t a problem because there’s so much food. Plus, many of those customers are also heading to Edgewood’s food bank, located at Mountain View Lutheran Church.

Sumner Community Food Bank opened its doors more than a decade ago and is supported solely by donors and volunteers — more of both are always welcome. Donations come from local schools, churches, grocery stores, organizations and community members.

The food bank is open four days a week and most families of three to four leave with approximately 120 pounds. When there’s an overabundance of food, the food bank provides leftovers to other food banks and senior centers.

“We’re really lucky that we can share,” Hirano said.

The main goal for the food bank in 2008 is the remodel of its building. A leaky shed will be torn down and the back end of the building may be expanded to increase storage space.

“That’s our big priority,” Tron said.