Good Cheer is committed to its mission of creating a hunger-free community on South Whidbey Island. Alone, the challenge would be a mission impossible, but together we are getting it done.

We live in a community that is caring and supportive; with many volunteers who devote their time and energy to make this charity work.

The hardest part for many of our clients is simply asking for help; the help that we give creates an opportunity to focus on other issues. If our clients feel safe and less stressed they have a chance to move forward with their lives in a positive manner.

The Good Cheer Food Bank is like grocery store where clients use a shopping cart, it provides a sense of dignity in that they can choose their own foods. The food bank is a grocery store with a points system where a one-person household starts with a base of 70 points to spend per month, an additional 10 points per person is added for larger households. The clients also receive an additional 3 points by providing their own bags.

The Food Bank encourages clients to select the most nutritious foods by assigning fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, rice and other raw staples with lower points. Many times during the summer and fall our clients can pick up fresh garden vegetables for no points, which really encourages healthful eating.

While it is true that many of our clients have the ability of using the Food Stamp Program the problem that many people find is that their benefits can be relatively small. The poverty threshold in America for a single person is $11,170 and for a family of four the number goes to $23,050.

Using the food bank can free up some extra cash to provide for emergency needs. Pride can always be an issue but that is just our egos talking to us.

Becoming a client at the food bank is very easy! We trust you when you say you need food. Good Cheer serves the community of South Whidbey; the boundary is Bakken Road just before the Greenbank store, if you live south of that area you qualify as a client.

The proof of residency can be a rental or lease agreement, a receipt of that rent or lease, a utility bill, pay check stub, a note from your landlord or any official mailing that comes to your address. Bring that and you are in!

One of our volunteers will take your information and set you up with an account. You can access the food bank more than once during the month; just bear in mind that you can only use the number of points that you are allotted for the month.

On your first visit to the food bank a volunteer will show you around bank and explain the points system and answer any questions that you may have. You will be given a shopping worksheet so that you can track the points that you have used. This information goes on file so that you will know how many points that you have left for the month after your visit.

Sometimes we have excess goods that are zero point items; you can take all that you can use. All baby items are free (infants 2 years or younger) make sure to document this when you register.

It is pretty amazing what 70 points will provide in the way of food!

Good Cheer – Creating a Hunger-free Community

You can donate by clicking here.

The Whidbey Institute at Chinook will be hosting a series of conferences about thriving communities with the first event being held on February 2^nd thru the 4th. The title will be “Cultivating Community in Challenging Times” and Good Cheer will be one of several South Whidbey non-profits to be featured at this national conference.

The Whidbey Institute is located on 70 secluded acres of forest on Whidbey Island. It is a place where people can connect with nature and each other; working together to create a better place to live and work.

From the organic vegetable garden that supplies the dining room to the winding paths through the forest, the Institute is a place of serene beauty. Imagine a community where people strive to help each other and where sustainable practices feed our neighbors in need. You need not imagine for it exists on South Whidbey Island.

Here is a video that describes the vision that The Whidbey Institute at Chinook holds so close to its heart.

The Thriving Communities Conference will be focused on food. “Food is a way into our souls,” says Executive Director Jerry Millhon. “We’re taking on food first, because it’s important to get the gut taken care of with dignity.”

The U.S. Labor Department just reported that the current average duration of unemployment is at 40 weeks, the longest in more than 60 years. And while the state of Washington had a drop in the unemployment rate to 8.7 percent in November 2011, it is still almost double the 4.6 percent in January of 2007 when the recession began. This is almost three years from the end of the “Great Recession.” With that in mind, the health of any community is how it cares for the hungry.

Good Cheer Food Bank, Friends of Friends, Whidbey Island Nourishes, and Hearts and Hammers are thriving charities that grow and distribute food, repair housing, help pay medical bills, and feed hungry school kids with nutritious sack lunches.

“We can’t rely on the Federal government; we need to move locally to get help for the hungry,” says Millhon.

The Whidbey Institute is planning five years of Thriving Community Conferences to explore the critical issues facing small communities, using Whidbey Island from Coupeville to Clinton as a living laboratory for change and inspiration.

At the inaugural February gathering, participants will define the attributes of a healthy local food system, create an optimal food blueprint, and identify common challenges and strategies for overcoming them.

Good Cheer Executive Director Kathy McLaughlin says that “it’s an honor to be working together on hosting a conference that will provide our community the opportunity to share, learn and grow.”

Our world is moving into increasingly challenging times, but also times of great opportunity to adapt. How do we meet the growing critical needs of individuals, families, and communities?

Join us for the inaugural Thriving Communities Conference, the first in a series of annual conferences. In sharing our experiences, all who participate can move forward intentionally into a hopeful and life-affirming common future.

A brief video about Good Cheer that was produced by Whidbey Institute for the conference with funding from a grant from the Murdoch Charitable Trust.

Good Cheer!

Join us for our annual work party on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January, 16th, from 10 am – 3:30 pm.  There will be outside winter gardening work at the Good Cheer Garden and the Bayview School Garden. Picnic lunch at noon with hot soup, and salad greens from the garden!

Come for as long or short as you’d like!

We’re having such a mild winter so far that the overwintering crops are doing really well out in the field. The spinach, kale, collards, chard and arugula are all surviving and even growing a little! The cut-and-come-again salad mix in the hoophouse is ready for a harvest!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’” Each year, Americans across the country answer that question by coming together on Martin Luther King Day to serve their neighbors and communities.

Good Cheer!

The National Bureau of Economic Research has said that the “Great Recession” ended in June 2009. In fact the chart above proves this……well a recovery but not even close the robust recoveries of the past. Looking among our friends and community at large this purported upswing in the economy is hard to identify. Unemployment remains high and many are working just part time.

What is very apparent is that the last two recessions in 2001 and 2007 have taken a toll on employment in the U.S. and the State of Washington. Notice that the last two recessions in Washington state show insignificant employment growth after the recessions ended.

The unemployment rate that we read about monthly is based on a household survey and in November the survey reported an increase of 278,000 people with jobs, pushing the unemployment rate down….. some say sharply and I’m not sure that would be accurate.

There is a bit of a cache-22……..If people stop searching for work, they’re not counted in the labor force or as unemployed even if they’d like a job. In November, some 487,000 people dropped out of the labor force, too discouraged to look for work. Adding these people to the officially unemployed would have produced a jobless rate of 8.9 percent instead of 8.6 percent so are things really getting better?

Better employment prospects may spur more discouraged workers to look for a job. Perversely, this could raise the unemployment rate. If job creation remains weak, more discouraged workers might stop looking for work and this could lower the unemployment rate. Confused yet?

The U.S. Labor Department just reported that the current average duration of unemployment is at 40 weeks, the longest in more than 60 years. And while the state of Washington had a drop in the unemployment rate to 8.7 percent in November 2011, it is still almost double the 4.6 percent in January of 2007 when the recession began. This is almost three years from the end of the “Great Recession.”

This housing based recession will not recover until the housing market recovers. The housing industry put many people to work. We have the construction industry, raw materials manufacturers, title companies, escrow companies, real estate companies and loan officers to name a few. That is a lot of jobs.

You and your Good Cheer Food Bank have been dealing with these harsh realities for many months. The fact remains that people are having a tough time finding employment.  Unemployment and hunger sadly go hand and hand and we need your support more than ever.

The impact on our food bank has been dramatic! In November the Food Bank served 962 families and that is an all time high. Hunger doesn’t discriminate. We serve children, seniors, the working poor, and the unemployed on South Whidbey Island. Food bank clients cross every race, color, education level, and increasingly the middle class. None of these folks want to ask for help but they have little choice.

The food bank has made this a better experience than most food banks, with its grocery style shopping. Our clients let us know:

“Sometimes when we have no food, I come to the food bank and leave with bags of food and tears in my eyes. Thank you!”

- From a mother with two young children

Here is a challenge for you all:

This is your food bank blog and it is a part of our social network. We know that we are reaching many of you but we would like to reach more. The more supporters we have the easier it is to spread the load and to meet our challenges.

We are asking you to forward this link to your friends and families. Just bring up your email list and plug this link into a short note about taking a close look at the Good Cheer Food Bank.

You can make us better by just sending an email! If you need help with how this is done, just email me at markvclawson@gmail.com and I’ll help you.

You can make a donation by clicking Good Cheer!

There is a wonderful program that we have at Good Cheer, it’s about a child’s chance to give. The program is for children of parents or caretakers who are clients of the food bank. Children between the ages of 4-15 are presented with a gift certificate for each parent or caretaker in their home. It is their chance to give!

The peace and feeling of comfort that comes from having family and friends is often taken for granted, however, it is where most happiness begins.

The Holiday Season is a time for happiness and sharing gifts has become a way of expressing our love of family and friends. We all know the importance of giving and the feeling that comes from the experience.

The kids shop in Langley or Clinton at the thrift stores and also the the Good Cheer Rack in Clinton. Their parents or caretakers drop the children off at the store where the kids are met by our volunteers.

The parents stay away while just the right present is found.

Decisions are made.

This is a program that doesn’t get much public attention since it is something that is done in-house for our clients. As you know, children are always in our hearts at Good Cheer. Anything that we can do to make their lives more normal in these difficult times is where we want to be.

It is always a festive time and a chance to share in the joy of giving as our volunteers not only help the kids find the right present they also make sure that it is wrapped just right for that special person.

This is just what Good Cheer is all about and  the many ways that, we together, are bringing light into the lives of others!

I guess you could call this “Spreading Good Cheer.”

Love and Merry Christmas to All!