Everett Food Bank Gets A Boost During Days of Caring

September 14, 2014

Everett

On Friday and Saturday hundreds of volunteers helped out at projects in Everett and throughout Snohomish County in the annual United Way of Snohomish County Days of Caring. Here’s a look at just one project in Everett courtesy of Neil Parekh.

Dof C pic

from Washington L&I, American Girl at the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood and the YMCAs in Everett and Mill Creek volunteered at Everett Food Bank and Distribution Center on Friday, Sept. 12 as part of United Way’s 21st Annual Days of Caring. (Photo Courtesy: VOAWW’s Facebook Page.)

The Everett Food Bank and Distribution Center run by Volunteers of America Western Washington serves over 3,000 families a month. On Friday, it was the Food Bank’s turn to get a little help.

A group of approximately twenty volunteers deep cleaned the food bank – washing windows, power washing shopping carts – and organized the shelves as part of the 21st Annual United Way Days of Caring.

For two staffers from the Washington Department of Labor and Industries’ (L&I) Everett Office, volunteering on Friday had special significance.

Troy Woodard volunteered often when he worked with Kimberly-Clark before the mill closed almost three years ago. After helping former colleagues find jobs during the transition, Troy landed a new job with the Department of Labor and Industries. This year, he saw his chance to continue his volunteer work and convinced the agency to let him put a team together for Days of Caring.

Barbie Lima Gierbolini grew up in Puerto Rico and attended a residential school for youth who needed a home. Although she was not a resident (her mother was an attorney associated with the nonprofit that ran the facility), Gierbolini had fond memories of the school and the work they did helping young people. She recalled that the local United Way helped support the school financially and when Troy approached her about volunteering at Days of Caring, she jumped at the chance.

Others who joined Troy and Barbie came from the American Girl Store at the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood and the YMCA offices in Everett and Mill Creek. They came together to take care of projects that the staff at the Everett Food Bank just couldn’t get done during normal working hours, when they’re routinely serving thousands of families a month.

A total of 200 volunteers worked on projects in Everett. Projects included a deep clean for a transitional living facility operated by Friends of Youth; restoration of the Union Slough Tidal Estuary with Earth Corps and the Port of Everett; Casino Day for participants in Full Life Care’s Adult Day Health program; cleanup of the Olde Everett Train Station; downtown container re-planting;  a deep clean of the Housing Hope community space; yard work at the Victim Support Services and Cocoon House facilities; reading to kids at Hawthorne Elementary; and several projects helping seniors with basic clean up at their homes through Catholic Community Services.

Approximately 700 volunteers were expected to participate in this year’s Days of Caring. Across the county, 70 teams of volunteers participated in 35 different projects helping 28 local nonprofits.

The hashtag for this year’s event was #UWSCDoC. You can see all of the Facebook posts associated with the event by clicking here.  Additional social media posts can be found on the event’s Tagboard page.

Next year’s Days of Caring will be September 11 and 12, 2015.

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