Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Neighbors Helping Neighbors, A Message from the Director

This year, Fishline will commemorate its 45th year of service to the North Kitsap community.  What began as a transportation and errand service run by volunteers from local churches, headquartered in a meeting room at St. Charles Episcopal Church, has become a thriving, busy food bank and emergency services agency.

In 1979, the first year we have recorded statistics, we served neighbors 400 times when they visited the food bank. Last year, we served neighbors nearly 28,000 times, distributing 1.3 million pounds of food and helping more than 600 households to avoid foreclosure, to keep their houses warm or to find temporary housing when they have lost theirs.

But the backstory to these statistics is where the human, personal story exists. This is where you witness the remarkable efforts of more  than 225 volunteers who take their turns keeping the food moving through or helping Second Season to sell items that turn into assistance for our clients.

It’s where you learn of the stories of our neighbors, our family members, our friends who are doing their very best to outrun a depressed economy, working where and when they can, worrying about whether it will be enough. And it’s where you learn about the way a helping hand can change lives. If you have ever been in a crisis in your life, and someone reached out to share the burden or offer a way out, you will know that feeling.  You never forget it. 

As members of our community, supporters of Fishline and recipients of its services, you are the shareholders in this company. Our experience teaches us that interest in Fishline and its ability to care for our vulnerable is high, that many of us know that a community is strong when it cares for its own, and we all have a stake in that outcome. This month, we will introduce our new website because we wanted a vehicle to tell the stories, to celebrate our progress and to report on the challenges. We witness nearly every day the changing face of need in North Kitsap, and we want to offer that view to those who may not be able to see it firsthand.

We hope you’ll follow along as we share the poignant moments, the hints and signs of progress and the trends we notice. In many ways, we are a bellwether, a measure of community health. Working together,  we will stay a step ahead of the need as long as it exists, telling the story along the way.

Sincerely, 
Mary Nader, Executive Director
North Kitsap Fishline
director@nkfishline.org




Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Community Events, Week of June 25


On Wednesday, June 27,  Suquamish Church of Christ will host a community dinner between 5-7pm.  This is a weekly event. All are welcome!

On Thursday, June 28,  First Lutheran Church in Poulsbo will host their weekly community dinner between 5-6pm.  This is also a weekly event where all are welcome!

Also on Thursday, join us for a seminar at Kitsap Community Resources, 1201 Park Ave., Bremerton:  Become a Smart Renter, the Ins & Outs of Renting -- Presented by KCR expers from 5:30 to 7pm.

On Saturday, June 30, from 11:30 to 1pm Gateway Fellowship Church in Poulsbo will host a community lunch.  All are welcome!

Are you hosting an event that will benefit the needy members of our community?  Contact NK Fishline to add your event to our calendar!

Food Banks Do More Than Feed Suburban Poor

Great video from MSNBC on how food banks help to stabilize a family in need.


Food banks do more than feed suburban poorSarah Nelson of Sister Carmen Community Center (www.sistercarmen.org) says food banks do more than just put food on the table. They can help struggling families get back on their feet financially. Lester Holt gets a first-hand look as he joins Joyce Welch at the Sister Carmen food pantry.




Monday, June 25, 2012

Can You Speak Vietnamese or Polish?


Can you read, write, and speak a foreign language? NK Fishline could use your help!

Specifically we are looking for people who can translate Vietnamese or Polish.  We are undergoing some changes to our front market structure and it would be great to be able to serve our clients who don't speak English well or may have difficulty understanding the transition.

Please contact our Executive Director, Mary Nader, if you can help! Thanks!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Small Tasks That Make a BIG Difference at Fishline!



Want to volunteer?
Don’t have a lot of spare time?

The staff at Fishline has a multitude of simple and quick tasks that are easy to fit into an active week. However it’s those little things that add up and put a squeeze on our already busy schedules.

Contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Gavin -- if you have time for any of these tasks!

Here is a list of some of the things we need help with:

• Maintain the lobby bulletin board—once weekly—30 minutes tops-discard outdated material and order what’s missing.

• Birthday gifts program for kids—once weekly—1 hour of fun “shopping” in the birthday boxes in Rae’s office.

• Shredding — that’s right:  shredding —once weekly-10 minutes tops-it’s a noisy job so best done before or after open hours.

• Creating labels for our Housing Solutions pamphlets-one time task-1 hour—print and stick-that’s it!

• Creating a poster of services available here at Fishline - one time task - needs to be big, bold and beautiful!

• Community Events Booth Manager(s)– knowledgeable and friendly person (or bring a friend along and make it a partnership) to explain all the good work Fishline does in the community—a few days a year.

• Investigator—sad but true, there a small number of fraudulent folks taking advantage—see Rae for details.

• News Specialist—do you read the paper EVERY day? We need someone to keep abreast of food bank relevant news and local obituaries that may name NK Fishline as a source for memorial donations.

• Community Outreach - working with the News Specialist find out who in the community needs help - and then work with Rae and Lucy to do outreach. May also involve arranging on site classes here at Fishline.

• Health Care Information Specialist - someone to gather all the health care relevant information and create a
 packet that a normal person can make sense of - time involvement is unknown -

• Reporter - a friendly articulate person to write our monthly volunteer newsletter - requires some interviewing and keeping abreast of all the schedules of events here at Fishline. 4-5 hours a month(?)

• Weed fighter - yep it's that time of year - there are weeds growing in the front parking area and a thorny bush overgrowing right into the walkway! One hour sessions - as needed till Fall.

Contact our Volunteer Coordinator if you have time for any of these things! We're glad to have you!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Community Events, Week of June 12

This week's events:

On Wednesday, June 13,  Suquamish Church of Christ will host a community dinner between 5-7pm.  This is a weekly event. All are welcome!

On Thursday, June 14,  First Lutheran Church in Poulsbo will host their weekly community dinner between 5-6pm.  This is also a weekly event where all are welcome!

Also on Thursday, join us for a seminar at Kitsap Community Resources:  Introduction to Investing, hosted by American Financial Solutions from 5:30 to 7pm.

On Saturday, June 16, from 11:30 to 1pm Gateway Fellowship Church in Poulsbo will host a community lunch.  All are welcome!

Are you hosting an event that will benefit the needy members of our community?  Contact NK Fishline to add your event to our calendar!