My early Wednesday afternoons are spent at the Kirkland Hopelink food bank. As of last week the Kirkland food bank merged with the Northshore Hopelink into a much larger facility in North Kirkland. The food bank had an “orientation open house” last Friday but I spent last Friday at work so Wednesday was the first day at the new facility. My volunteer title is “food delivery driver” and I get the opportunity to deliver food every week to people that are unable to come pick up the food themselves. They give me little lists of their likes and dislikes and of their medical conditions.
There were a lot of changes that took place with the move including a change to a whole different system to how we decide how much food to allow each family to have. One of the biggest changes, though, was that the bank was now open most days during business hours and people are not assigned a certain day or time to come in. They are allowed to come in twice a month. So instead of myself and the other volunteers being the only ones there as I am accustomed to the bank was teeming with people who qualify for food bank. The center was holding mini orientation sessions all week for the families. I have to admit that I found the change a little bit difficult. First of all, because I was picking up food, people assumed that I was on of the people who used the food bank and not a volunteer. Very different experience. Second, I was able to get a small glimpse of the people who come through the bank. Hispanic couples with lots of kids in tow, older people all hunched over their carts, your average every day people who had hit hard times. Walking in and out of the bank were people clasping the little sheet with directions to the new location. The looked down when I walked by, seemingly embarrassed and yet proud at the same time. It was heart warming and yet tragic simultaneously to be a part of it all.