Just the right time for Kirkland Community Food Drive

T ough economic times often call for extreme measures. While your family may not be at the point of desperation, let me assure you that hundreds of families in east King County are.

T ough economic times often call for extreme measures. While your family may not be at the point of desperation, let me assure you that hundreds of families in east King County are.

Many families in our own community are suffering in this economic meltdown. At Hopelink centers around the Eastside, we are facing that fact every day — even in Kirkland. From July 2007 to June 2008, Kirkland residents have made nearly 18,000 visits to Hopelink’s food bank, and the number of Kirkland residents coming to our food bank in September 2008 was 25 percent higher than in September 2007.

Many clients have gone from being able to make limited choices about how to spend their discretionary dollars, to having no discretionary dollars and no options. Many are not even able to make ends meet for basic necessities such as food and rent. Many of them have little or nothing left, except for the help they can get from Hopelink.

Even people who have been self-sufficient are suddenly joining the ranks of the needy. It’s what we are seeing more frequently every week.

At the same time, donations are not what they have been. Hopelink’s food banks are currently distributing 18,000 pounds of food per month more than we are receiving in donated food. Need is up, donations are down, and the holidays are quickly approaching. That’s why the Kirkland Community Food Drive, which launched Nov. 15 and continues until Dec. 18, is coming at just the right time.

The City of Kirkland and the community at large have always been tremendous Hopelink supporters. For that support we thank you. People from all over Kirkland have walked in Hopelink’s Turkey Trot fundraising walk and organized their own food drives and other events to support Hopelink.

In order to meet its mission of helping people, giving people the hope they need to persevere and helping change lives, Hopelink is asking the community to be generous in its donations.

Between now and Dec. 18, food collection bins will be available at community events. For even more ways to get involved in this community-wide effort, go to www.ci.kirkland.wa.us/fooddrive or www.hope-link.org” www.hope-link.org.

While it’s not officially part of the Kirkland Community Food Drive, a special event for teens 13-20 years of age on Nov. 22 will give young people their own opportunity to support Hopelink. Mia Cooledge, a senior at International Community School, is organizing a swing dance to benefit Hopelink, for her senior project (a graduation requirement). The dance is on Nov. 22 from 7-10 p.m. at the Teen Union Building in Kirkland. The admission price is $7 and includes a swing dance lesson. Teens who bring at least one can of food will pay just $5. All proceeds will go to Hopelink. For more information, go to YouthLink, Hopelink’s new Web site for young philanthropists, at www.youthlink.hope-link.org and click on “What’s Up.”

Whether you bring cans of food to the swing dance, participate in your neighborhood’s food donation contest, make a cash donation to Hopelink through the City (or on Hopelink’s Web site), or organize your own food collection effort, Hopelink and the Kirkland residents we serve will thank you. And for the City of Kirkland, it will definitely mean a stronger community, and happier holidays for all. On behalf of the Hopelink board and staff, and the thousands of people we help every year, thank you.