ShareNet Food Bank Programs
ShareNet serves residents of Kingston, Hansville, Port Gamble, Indianola, Eglon, Little Boston, and some border addresses in Poulsbo and Suquamish. ShareNet believes there is a direct line between service and donation, countering the effects of poverty, and improved community.
Where there is adequate nutrition, children have their best chance at optimal development and learning, their best chance at contributing positively to their larger community as they grow, and the same is true for adults, as we know now that development and learning are lifelong.
Where there is less poverty, there is less crime. Community improvement is infectious; one act of community support generates another act, and another, until brick by brick, donation by volunteer hour, a community is remade, and a problem such as malnutrition shifts. ShareNet's goals are to reduce hunger, poverty, homelessness, and the effects of crisis in our community.
ShareNet had over 13,000 individual service instances of emergency food in 2012, and distributed $30,000 through carefully screened eviction prevention and utility shutoff prevention programs for clients threatened with loss of sustenance, heat, or home.
ShareNet's Food to Grow On Program serves an average of 80 students per week between four local schools with take home food for students identified as in need by school counselors. Food is delivered by ShareNet and then discreetly provided by school staff in students' backpacks.
Backpack programs, as they are known, are extraordinarily expenseive, especially for small agencies, as the food necessary to be nutritious, portable, with adequate shelf life and suitable for individual packing tends not to be available through usual purchasing channels. School counselors believe they could identify as many as approximately 225 children locally in total for this program, so at this time only the most needy cases are served. ShareNet would like to have the financial ability to serve as many as 225 students in need as identified.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
With the support of our community, ShareNet won a prestigious honor in Washington's community of food banks, Food Lifeline's 2009 Excellence Award for Community Resource Development, an award designed to "recognize strategies that raise awareness of hunger and develop resources to address it."
There is no magic solution to the force of poverty and malnutrition in our community, and ShareNet must continue the fight every day and draw upon every last resource in order to meet the 130% increase we have experienced during the past two years. ShareNet needs your help to continue successful operations. A donation to ShareNet is one of the fastest ways to have a direct hand in problem solving and crisis relief right at home, closer than you ever imagined. There are few donation scenarios where your dollars go to work more quickly, more directly, or more locally.
There's a direct line between service, donation, countering the effects of poverty, and improved community.
Where there is adequate nutrition, children have their best chance at optimal development and learning, their best chance at contributing positively to their larger community as they grow. That goes for adults too, as we know now that development and learning are lifelong.
Where there is less poverty, there is less crime. Community improvement is infectious; one act of community support generates another act, and another, until brick by brick, donation by volunteer hour, a community is remade, and a problem such as malnutrition shifts.
Your donations allow ShareNet to be a safety net for some, a lifeline for others, and a vital force in community improvement for all. ShareNet remains in need of further funding and additional volunteer staff, both generally and for key positions.