Arlington food bank seeks donations for holiday baskets

ARLINGTON — Produce isn’t the only item the Arlington Food Bank is low on.

Sharon Moon, food bank board president, said that the food bank is looking for monetary donations to help stock its holiday food baskets which are handed out to families in need each year.

Moon estimates that in the past year the number of clients who rely on the food bank has increased by 10 percent.

Because of that large number of people, the volunteers have already used up their emergency funding for the year. That means that they are going to have to eliminate certain items from their holiday baskets this year unless they can obtain additional donations.

“Right now we’re making the decision of what we can cut out of those baskets,” Moon said. “We would prefer to not have to cut anything.”

Last year during its Christmas giveaway the food bank handed out more than 350 baskets, which included essential supplies such as sugar, butter, condiments and bread.

Each basket also contained a turkey, cranberry sauce, muffin mix and a $10 gift card.

“Our goal is to provide them with a holiday meal,” Moon said. “We give holiday baskets out on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it costs money to do that. That’s why we’re trying to let everybody know.”

Community members can send financial donations through the mail to the Arlington Community Food Bank, PO Box 3429, Arlington WA, 98223 or call 425-388-5595.

Contact Arlington Times Reporter Adam Rudnick at arudnick@arlingtontimes.com or 360-659-1300 Ext. 5056.

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