Building Community Connections at Fishline

Fishline has been in the business of helping people for over 48 years, however we are really just an extension of something much larger than ourselves, that power we loosely attribute as “heartfelt compassion”.  Recently received calls from community members drive the point home:

“This kid is on my team and his family needs help, so I called you.” - local coach

“He is here from out of state and is asking for a hotel for the night, what do you advise?” – local pastor

“I want to bring this young Mother in to see you, she won’t come in on her own...” – local pastor

“This family is in crisis, can you help us find them shelter or housing?” – local tribal counselor

If you live in North Kitsap, you live among Neighbors who truly care about you and your well being. This community never ceases to amaze us in their advocacy for those less fortunate, going through a rough time, or experiencing a family crisis.

The calls we receive are calls for help, not only for the individual or the family involved but the community as a whole.

We could certainly choose to look the other way, or keep ourselves in the dark about the brokenness around us, but we choose to stand up and to support a movement for stability, opportunity and success for all who reside here.

Clients come from all walks of life, the military wife going through a divorce and starting her life over feeling discouraged and devastated who went on to become a mentor to unwed mothers and landed her dream job working with Head Start families. The man who had been a homeless drifter for 40 years and who came to call this his home, and now works part time at a local church and visits his mother at a close by nursing home. The college intern who is pursuing her career in addiction recovery and wanted to pay back Fishline for all the help offered to her in her times of struggle.

While we are able to stabilize the storm for most of our clients we want to do more. We want to get ahead of that crisis whenever possible. We want to wrap around clients with multiple barriers, we want to see providers use a team approach to support clients and one another in the journey. We want to see growth in community building projects and support groups.

We want there to be an intentional focus on building natural community connections (e.g., landlords, employers, ministers, neighbors, teachers, community centers, and coaches), and in the case of North Kitsap it is obvious that we have already conquered this important step. We want our neighbors to get help here in our community and without the barrier of setting and keeping appointments in Bremerton or Tacoma or Seattle.

We simply need to take the next step and create a model where we are cohesive across services and where self-determination and client choice are essential to success, and where shared case management is possible.

Will you support us in this mission? Will you be a part of strengthening your local community in such a way? We are in the process of creating something powerful and unique and would welcome your input and support; and please keep the calls coming, we are here to help you build our community to its best potential!

Fishline Opens at New Location

Fishline customer Allen Alexander, of Poulsbo, shops for produce Tuesday. Photo by:  Larry Steagall

POULSBO — North Kitsap Fishline nearly doubled in size Tuesday morning when it opened the doors to its new Poulsbo location. The nonprofit, which provides food, housing assistance and other resources to community members in need, is now in the 5,500-square-foot building on Liberty Lane that once housed Poulsbo RV. The old location, along a one-way section of Third Avenue, was 3,100 square feet, according to Executive Director Mary Nader. The shopping market area for clients is three times bigger, going from 400 square feet to 1,200 square feet.

Before its 10 a.m. opening Tuesday, volunteers helped unload food trucks as the sun shined through windows from the bay doors brightening the market and nearby storage areas. While clients and volunteers rave about the building space and its cheery feel, clients are especially happy with the available parking. The old location had six parking spots, while the new site has at least 60 with room for loading trucks. “The parking is a big thing and the bathrooms for the little kids,” said Allen Alexander, a Fishline client. The Third Avenue location did not have a public restroom, but the new building has a restroom in the front lobby for clients as well as a second one for staff and volunteers.

Alexander, who volunteered at local food banks decades ago, now is retired and struggles to make his fixed Social Security income meet his basic needs, like many retirees, he said. He praised Fishline and its volunteers for making the smaller site, where it had been since 1999, work so well.


“We were really squeezed in before. We just worked around it together,” Alexander said.
Since 2008, Fishline has seen demand for services double, causing its former location to feel a little smaller each year. It serves about 130 families a day, distributing between 5,000 and 7,000 pounds of food.

“You were knocking into each other. It wasn’t (Fishline’s) fault. It was just so tiny,” said Nancy Satterlee, another Fishline client. “I think people are happier now.”

Nader acknowledged the physical limitations of the old site, which prompted the nonprofit’s move, she said.

It wasn’t just the market that was cramped. Office space was limited, and there was no place to meet privately with clients, Nader said. Food preparation areas were tight. Walkways were limited to one person at a time. Food had to be stored off-site at three locations and volunteers had to toss bags of potatoes and wheel boxes of onions out of the way before a staff meeting could take place.
Now, Fishline has administrative office space as well as meeting space for staff and clients.
The nonprofit also will be able to offer clients a resource center with computer and Internet access, Nader said.

This article was originally posted on Kitsap Sun. 

NK Fishline's Future in a New Home

On May Day 2014, volunteers at North Kitsap Fishline Food Bank will flip its sign to “closed” one last time, surely to be a poignant and melancholy moment, and an era will end. For 15 years, our building on Third Avenue has been witness to the hopes and dreams, and the fears and tears, of thousands of neighbors who humbly came to its doors during the toughest times of their lives. This building gave its all to warmly greet its visitors, and we could swear that somehow its rooms expanded to meet the swell of demand that is part of every downward economic cycle. 

From a building the same size as an average home, millions of meals were distributed, thousands received help to keep their homes or to keep them warm, thousands more had holiday meals or birthday gifts for their children who would have otherwise gone without. From the nine household visits a day that were typical when we first opened on Third Avenue, our daily average is now 120. The amount of food, people and supportive services necessary to sustain that level of need has grown in proportion, requiring increases in storage capacity, refrigerated space, office space, and parking.

It is remarkable that we’ve been able to make it work as long as we have. Our staff and volunteers have been so resourceful and patient. Most remarkable, though, is the support of our loving community — they have always kept the food and donations flowing through good times and bad.

As well as this building has done its job, it could no longer contain this kind of growth and expansion. A larger, more suitable space was finally found which could host the exciting programs that only needed a little elbow room to grow. 

Our community then came together, and a vacant Poulsbo RV showroom transformed to the welcoming safe haven which would become its new destiny. Excitement began to build, and donations came in from contractors, construction suppliers and so many groups, businesses and individuals. Volunteers spent their Saturdays painting and cleaning, pulling weeds and running computer wire. Joining together to prepare for the new chapter of this important community provider has been uplifting and galvanizing. 

When we complete this move, Fishline will be able to reach for its highest potential. The grocery-store style market, previously squeezed into 400 square feet, will now have 1,200 square feet of open-air shopping. Personal, heart-wrenching conversations with clients can now take place in private. Client enrichment classes and seminars, impossible to consider because we didn’t even have a meeting room before, can now be held in our Resource Center, a space that will also contain computers for client use. Our ability to provide wraparound services will grow as we invite community experts in the fields of finance, nutrition, employment and health care to be available for clients in need of their guidance. 

We will miss our little building on Third Avenue. Many extraordinary memories took place there. Peoples’ lives were changed for the better every day we opened our doors. And, thanks to the unflagging commitment of so many caretakers of Fishline’s mission through these 47 years, progress was made toward the goal that has guided us from the start, a community free from hunger and homelessness. 

The magic and beauty which made these moments and this progress possible goes with us, in the hearts of our noble volunteers and dedicated staff, in the gratitude expressed every day by our clients, in the generosity and greatness of spirit of our community. These reminders of the goodness of humanity transcend time and place and will guarantee the safety of troubled neighbors for years to come.

This article was originally printed at Kitsap Sun's website and can be found here.

An Environment Where Promising Futures Can Grow

As we come closer to the move to our new facility, you can feel a new energy pulsing through the halls of our food bank on 3rd Avenue.  This is the energy of possibility, which partially comes about because ideas that have lied dormant in the minds and hearts of our staff and volunteers can now be explored. 

Without facility limitations, we now have permission to move into areas we believe will result in the best outcome for our clients.  You can only imagine how invigorating this is for the creative people who have come together so they can lift burdens and create opportunities.

But to truly implement programs that offer lasting benefit, we must be very clear about the dynamics of economic crisis, the root causes and what might be a way out of the varying downturns experienced by so many in our community.

So our Client Services Team has come together to learn, through surveys and follow up conversations with clients who've received our help, which of our services have had the greatest positive impact and where people continue to struggle.  Should Fishline offer a new branch of services?  Are clients telling us about plaguing issues that can be solved through greater community effort?  Can education be a key to promoting well being and breaking negative cycles?  These questions and more are being asked by skilled volunteers trained to draw out honest responses.

What we learn from these outcomes will turn into valuable planning tools.  Classes, already taking shape through discussions with community experts, can be organized and delivered through our new Resource Center, where people can learn about nutrition, employment techniques, smart budgeting and health and family care.  

Information resources can be offered to address the most commonly-experienced crisis contributors, such as foreclosures, health problems, unemployment and addictions.   Sometimes just learning about our own self-defeating patterns or limiting perceptions can prompt a shift to a more positive outlook, increasing odds for success.  Onsite consultants will be available to provide guidance in a confidential, safe environment - perhaps offering just the right advice to move an individual forward and restoring hope.

At the heart of this effort is a desire to go beyond our emergency services and provide supportive services, recognizing that client empowerment is the best way to open up possibilities.  In a world where change happens so quickly, and there seems to be a constant shuffling of job possibilities and economic challenges, most of us need friends or mentors to help us navigate our dizzying times.  Through this support, we will embody the Fishline mission, turning the S.O.S. request for help into a new S.O.S., Stability, Opportunity and Success.

It might not surprise you that many people think the name Fishline came from the old adage about teaching people to fish instead of giving them the fish, thereby feeding them for a lifetime.  Though that isn't the original premise of the name, we can surely make it so through these efforts...and bring about the possibilities for long-term prosperity that lie within every crisis.

Thanks to your support and your donations, this bright new horizon is unfolding for Fishline and the community it serves.  We hope that what can come from it is the fertile environment where promising futures can grow, the best outcome of all.

Learn more about our new building needs and how you can help by clicking here. 

Village is Making a New Home Become a Reality

Photo Credit:  Nichole Connor

There is a popular adage, "It takes a village", that reminds us that there are some goals that cannot be reached alone. This has always been the case for Fishline, whose mission would be impossible to realize were it not for the legions of helping hands and hearts that everyday come together to lift the burdens of their neighbors. 

But that cooperative effort has risen to a new level as we prepare our new facility on Viking Avenue. From the start, the best and brightest in our community have come forward to offer assistance, services, materials and sweat equity. Nearly every day, individuals and organizations join the ranks of this rehabilitation army and, before our very eyes, an abandoned building is transforming. School kids join with local military groups, working side-by-side with families and church groups with one thing in common - a love for their community and a belief in the good work that Fishline represents.

Miles Yanick and Associates, Architect, has helped us put our dream onto paper and has gone ahead to pave the way with permits, regulations and feasibility. Sandy Wenberg donated her color expertise to help us create a color palate that is soothing for our clients and volunteers. Peninsula Paints has donated all the paint, no small donation when considering the tall walls that surround our market, and Chad Lyons Painting has donated the labor. Swift Plumbing will put in all our fixtures for free, which came to us at no cost because Ferguson Plumbing donated them.

And, in a nearly perfect confluence of events, a total remodel of Town and Country on Bainbridge Island will mean that Fishline can receive repurposed refrigeration and shelving and even possibly checkout equipment, making our grocery store design complete.
 
When we asked that technology be upgraded so we could use a progressive digital signage system to keep our clients informed while shopping, David Graves, our long-time IT volunteer, joined forces with a local Rotarian to fund the system and get it installed. And, when in the midst of all this activity, our precious van needed extensive repairs, Ken's Northwest Automotive did what they have done for years - they fixed it for free.

The Poulsbo Lions Club worked alongside Fishline volunteers to clear out years of scotch broom and other uninvited guests to renew the greenery. Hill Moving has donated pallet jacks and a forklift, standing ready to help us move when the time comes. And Tim Ryan Construction has overseen the project, donating materials and labor while working with our team to do the most work for the littlest cost. 

All of this coordination has been orchestrated by our MVP, Rick Lander (pictured above with a volunteer), who has masterfully and amiably mediated between Fishline and a sometimes baffling construction world to facilitate this huge project, keeping us on schedule and under budget.

In dozens of ways, our neighbors have come together to situate Fishline in a home that should meet its needs for decades to come. There is no way that we can adequately thank all those who have helped thus far and those who will help us in the months and years ahead. We just hope that, when we open Fishline on that happy day this Spring, our village can be proud that it made it possible.





Are you interested in being a part of this wonderful project? Click here to see project updates and how you can help!




how folks can get involved.)

A Special Thank You to Our New Building Remodel Crew!

Photo Credit:  Nichole Connor

While our focus at NK Fishline is to provide food and emergency services to the community, we have spent a little over a month now on a very important project: our new building remodel. The new-to-us space will help to provide a much needed expansion from our current location, and allow us to work more efficiently, serve the community better and give more to those in need. 

Photo Credit:  Nichole Connor

Our call to the community has been for services and materials. Donated or discounted time and supplies enable Fishline to stay within a budget, and more importantly: gives members of the community a sense of ownership in the ongoing and completed project.

 

Photo Credit:  Nichole Connor

 A project of this magnitude could not be completed without a committed group of individuals. Finding time in your already busy schedules to give to such a worthy project deserves praise beyond words. While contributions are ongoing, we would like to thank the following businesses and people for their efforts so far:

Tim Ryan Construction
Rick Lander, oversees volunteers and materials
Swift Plumbing
Chad Lyons, Lyons Painting
Miles Yanick & Company, Architect
Sandy Wenberg, Color Specialist
Peninsula Paint, donated all the paint
The Hansen family and Jan and Neal Henson, all the scotch broom extraction
Bainbridge Island Disposal, donated use of a dumpster
Central Market, provided pizzas for work parties
Anne Alexander, donated grab bars for the bathroom
David Graves, Information Technology Implementation
Town and Country Market for the walk-in coolers
Jack Archer
Mark Wright
Glen Hanson
Matthew Brooke
Mike Regis
Les Fritch
Joanne Reno

New Year Brings New Hope as Fishline Moves Forward with New Building Project

These are tearful times at Fishline. Not so much because we're sad - no, these are a different type of tears. They are the kind that Edgar Allen Poe most certainly had been thinking about when he wrote, "Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.”

These are tears of joy that come by being a part of beauty, of kindness, of compassion beyond words. What invokes this kind of response is often spontaneous, freeing and even surprising. But it is a reaction that can be uplifting. We seem hardwired to want to feel these feelings, to witness some sort of proof of goodness and generosity in a world so often filled with bad news and reasons to worry.

Watching the progress we are making on readying our new food bank, the efforts and contributions of volunteers and contractors coming together to turn an abandoned RV dealership into a warm, respectful promise of better times for struggling neighbors, has had an impact upon us all. Staff, volunteers and other community members are feeling renewed and inspired by the way it is all coming together.

During a recent open house, when we invited clients to see our new facility, many were obviously experiencing awe and relief. Knowing that we were willing to take on this project to make things easier and more dignified for them brought authentic tears of gladness and gratitude.

One senior said, through his tears, "I've lived all my life taking care of myself and my family. There was a time when we were well off. But now, I'm 86 years old, my income is barely enough, and I couldn't afford food without Fishline. I am so thankful." Another woman, who is a home health care aid and shops for herself and her patient, said "I have always known that Fishline cares about me, about all of us. But this is such a better situation for us, we can park and shop whenever we need to, it is just beautiful."

When almost overwhelmed with generosity, the human instinct is to want to do something, find some way, to return the favor. One of the clients viewing our new space during the open house looked around and said, almost as a whisper to be overheard, "You're going to need painters. I'm a painter. Let me help." This client will join other members of our community offering their support, working side-by-side to help write the next chapter in Fishline's history.

We are humbled by the way so many have come forward to offer their labor, their donations and their support. But we are reminded by these donors that they receive a great gift by helping, a feeling of satisfaction like no other. When a donor recently came in with a year-end check, she toured the food bank and, by the end of the tour, her face was streaming with tears. To know that Fishline's services are offered with such respect for our client experience deeply affected her. It made her feel proud to have contributed to it - rightly so, because Fishline only offers what donors and supporters make possible.

We live in a world that can be confusing. In our hearts, we know there must be a way to assure a safe community where everyone has enough. We are frustrated when we hear that this is not always the case. But moments come in the darkest times, almost as if to remind us that along with that darkness is great potential for love, for hope and for the kind of tears that wash away fear. These are the pillars that hold up the house of Fishline, helping make our community a beauty of supreme development.

Fishline is in Need of Contractors! Can You Help?

We are mere days away from ownership of our new facility – while we are handling the paperwork, there is concurrent effort underway to design and schedule work needed to make the building usable for our food bank.  We have a general contractor, but every bit of donated time, expertise or materials we can invite will help our costs go down.  But we also expect to pay for some of the work, so if you know of professionals who can offer their services for reduced cost, please let us know of them as well.

So, here’s what we need:

Plumbing Contractor – the highest priority.  We need to submit plumbing plans to the City as soon as we are able.  If you know of a contractor, please pass this information to us by Monday.

Electrical Contractor – also important but not an urgent timeline.  We would like your recommendations as soon as possible, but will accept them as late as next Friday.

Construction Materials – Sinks, faucets, wood, drywall, anything like this would help keep our costs down.

Sweat Equity – Do you want to help remove market carpet and finish the floors?  Does it sound like fun to demolish the side building we don’t need anymore?  Want to help us move?  Would you like to help organize the move? Let us know and we can include you on our project teams.

Email us with questions or if you need clarification.  Thank you for your recommendations and for your help.  This is a historic moment for Fishline, and I’m so glad we are all a part of it.

Mary Nader, 
Executive Director