Standing behind a table in the Kirkland/Northshore Hopelink food bank, volunteer Mary Rumpf was handing out some holiday goods about a week prior to Thanksgiving.

During their visits, each food bank client is given so many points to spend on items around the food bank, which is basically set up like a grocery store. The Thanksgiving items were extras, not counting against any client’s normal point total.

Spread on that table in front of Rumpf were canned goods ranging from sweet potatoes to pumpkin pie filling along with boxes of stuffing mix. Food bank clients also could take home some extra milk, a carton of eggs and bags of fresh fruits and vegetables supplied to a large extent by a Kirkland church group.

One obvious thing was missing from the holiday fare. There wasn’t a turkey in sight.

“We are looking at a greatly increased number of people coming through the food bank,” said center manager Teresea Andrade. But she added donations haven’t necessarily kept up with the growing need.

“The need is greater than what’s coming in,” Andrade said.

As for Thanksgiving Day turkeys, the center had about 30 on hand as of the week before the holiday and weren’t expecting any more. Andrade said the birds would be handed out via raffle from among the food bank’s roughly 1,300 clients.

Once housed in an aging building on 96th Avenue Northeast in Bothell, the Northshore Hopelink was combined with the Kirkland center and moved into a new home on 120th Avenue Northeast in Kirkland during the summer of 2009. Overall, Andrade said the move was a good one for the Northshore Hopelink, giving them much needed space and allowing them to offer more services, such as help with utility bills, adult eduction classes and so on.

One thing that suffered apparently was holiday turkey donations.

According to Andrade, when Hopelink sat on the outskirts of downtown Bothell, they would receive donations of 40 or 50 turkeys from a couple of different local supporters. Those donations seem to have ended with the move. Andrade said she would love to see holiday donations at the new location increase. She noted one Hopelink had some 400 turkeys to hand out. Still, Andrade noted no one is leaving the Northshore/Kirkland Hopelink empty-handed.

“People are getting food, just not a lot of extras,” she added.

Giving her name only as Angie, one food bank client from Kenmore said she doesn’t really mind the lack of turkeys, though she added she wouldn’t turn one down.

“I’m just happy to be getting some help,” said the single mother of three, who added she’d been downsized out of what she thought was a secure position with a local company’s accounting department. Without prompting, she added, she’d been looking steadily for a job for about a year with no luck so far.

“This place does a great job,” she said of Hopelink. “I really want to give them credit… I never thought I would need something like this, but for me, they saved my family.”

More information

The Kirkland/Northshore Hopelink serves Kirkland, Bothell and Kenmore. Those looking to help, or in need of help, can contact the center at 425- 889-7880.