Turkeys dropped off at PT Food Bank

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For the past decade, Arrow Lumber of Port Townsend has been helping the Port Townsend Food Bank provide happier holidays to families in need, and this year, they both got a helping hand from the Gray Wolf Ranch treatment center.

About a dozen volunteers hauled more than 350 turkeys off the flatbed of Arrow Lumber’s truck at noon Nov. 19, a number Port Townsend Food Bank volunteer Randy Rosens deemed “pretty consistent” with previous years.

Rosens reported the Port Townsend Food Bank typically serves about 110 senior families every Saturday, and roughly 350 “general community” families every Wednesday, with holidays such as Thanksgiving causing “not a tremendous spike” in those numbers, but a “slight spike” nonetheless.

“Our food bank has 109 volunteers, including myself and (manager) Shirley Moss, none of whom take any pay,” Rosens said. “We devote 2,000 hours a month to the food bank, including paying our own gas money, and while we have to spend two days of the week distributing food, the food bank is staffed seven days a week.”

While the food bank makes a point of providing family meal foodstuffs for all the major holidays, including Christmas and Easter, Rosens noted that Thanksgiving is the one holiday that sees the onrush of donated turkeys.

“We try to be well-stocked with milk, butter, cheeses and quality meat regardless,” said Rosens, adding that this year saw Darigold donate 450 pounds of butter to the food bank. “One of our clients took it upon herself to contact Darigold directly without us even knowing about it beforehand.”

Rosens noted the food bank’s needs tend to be cyclical, and while they’ve experienced surpluses before, what they need most at the moment is coffee, either grounds or beans.

Rosens expressed his gratitude to Gray Wolf Ranch for lending a few of its residents, but Gray Wolf recovery aide Kylee Sage deemed such community service an important part of their clients’ recovery.

“They’re giving back to the community for providing so much to them,” Sage said. “Part of the 12-step process is getting yourself out of selfish ways of thinking.”

Cadian Hendricks, store manager of Arrow Lumber in Port Townsend, attributed similar motivations to his boss, Arrow Lumber owner Barney Wagner, for starting the annual turkey donations 10 years ago.

“He wanted to give back to the community that gave to him,” Hendricks said. “He didn’t want anyone to miss their Thanksgiving dinners.”

Maggie Kelleher, one of the salespeople at Arrow Lumber, expressed enthusiasm for being able to help offload the turkeys from the truck for the first time this year, while Rosens offered a message of acceptance to the community.

“When people think of going to the food bank, it can have connotations of being down-and-out in a 1920s soup kitchen,” Rosens said. “We see everyone from small business owners to artists here. There’s no demographic that’s not welcome at the food bank. We want to make sure those who need most are able to get it, but anyone and everyone is welcome, especially on this holiday, which is about neighbors helping neighbors and bonding over food.”