Shannon McGinnis and her daughter, Kelly, load the back of their car with food from the Colville Food Bank and Resource Center. 

As the days get colder, the need at Colville Food Bank is greater

BY SOPHIA ALDOUS
S-E Staff Reporter

    Last Friday afternoon, Shan¬non McGinnis loaded boxes and bags of food into the back of her car at the Colville Food and Resource Center (CFRC). She has been coming to the local food bank for two years.
    “I’m thankful this place is here,” said McGinnis as her two children helped carry gro¬ceries. “If it wasn’t, it would be a lot harder to make ends meet, that’s for sure.”
    McGinnis has joined the steadily growing number of people who have been coming to CFRC over the past four years.
    A single mother of two who home school’s her son and daughter and is in remission from Lymphoma Cancer, McGinnis earns $485 a month as a Nanny. Her expenses in¬clude $600 a month for rent, including electricity bills. She receives $386 a month in food stamps from the state, but she said with growing kids in the house, those go quicker than they last.
    “If they weren’t here, I probably wouldn’t be able to have my children,” said McGinnis of the CFRC. “They’re not just a food bank. They help me with the elec¬tricity bill, school supplies for my kids, and they’ve helped at the Tree of Sharing every year. I know they are here for me.”

Serving over 400 families a month

    According to CFRC Director Frani Roberts, the food bank is serving over 400 families (around 1,200 individuals) a month. Roberts said 900 dif¬ferent families were served at least once over the past year. Around 50 percent were mi¬nors and 12 percent were senior citizens.
    “The rest are single parents, laid off workers, under-em¬ployed workers, disabled and mentally impaired adults, homeless people and stu¬dents,” Roberts said. “They’re people you know; they’re your friends and neighbors. With the economic down turn, it’s just harder for people to afford to buy enough food to last through the month, especially when grocery prices are so high right now.”
    Roberts credits volunteers and donations from busi¬nesses and individuals in helping keep the CFRC main¬tained and efficient.
    ‘”We’ve had businesses come into the building and do repair jobs for us, and so many people donated garden produce this season, which is so wonderful,” praised Rob¬erts. “It makes the building more comfortable and the fresh food makes the custom¬ers so happy.”
    With hunting season here again, Roberts is hoping more hunters will donate their wild game as well. Last year, only three or four hunters donated meat to the CFRC, a number that Roberts hopes will in¬crease this year.
    “Many of the people who come here choose this meat when available,” Roberts ex¬plained. “We ask people please, don’t waste this pre¬cious resource if you have ex¬tra and don’t know what to do with it.”
    For those who wish to do¬nate wild game, it must be tagged, skinned and gutted. Ray Miller of Ray’s Custom Cutting will cut and wrap the meat at no cost to the donor or the food bank.
    Miller can be contacted at 684-5544 to make arrange¬ments.
    “We’re coming into the holi¬day season, and that’s the time of year that people come to us most in need,” Roberts said. “We saw so many food drives and donations last year. Our community always pulls us through.”