Food Bank Stays Busy Between Holidays

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT
Last week KMXT told you about the Food Bank’s busy plans for Thanksgiving, but really the entire holiday season is a busy time for them. Kelli Foreman works with community education for the Kodiak Baptist mission, which owns and operates the Food Bank.
Foreman said in years past the bank’s food supplies have often dwindled down this time of year as the community needs become greater around the holidays. However, at the same time she said it’s amazing to see how generous the community gets during the season of giving.
“It’s amazing how we end up getting everything we need at the right time. But that’s because of how helpful our community is and different efforts around the community to continue to get food. We give out a large amount of food each week and each month. You know we’re serving close to 1,000 individuals, and that’s a lot. So while we continue to have the food we need when we need it, it’s because of people donating food it’s because of these food drives and because of donations coming in that we are able to continue feeding people.”
She said some years the community gives so much that it actually sustains the food bank well past the peak usage during the holidays.

“We honestly at times depend upon that. Because this is the time that people want to give and so we are able to receive these donations that come in, these canned goods, different items, and that helps carry us during some of the lower times. You know we think about November and December and then sometimes we get into January and February and that can be a really difficult time for us. So I would definitely encourage continued giving during this time to help, you know, push us through some of these times when we have the same amount of people coming with these needs.”
Foreman said the food bank is gearing up for a new campaign that will take place during its holiday bazaar.
“It’s the empty bowl campaign. We’ve been able to get a little over 100 beautiful ceramic bowls that we have in boxes and on December 7 at our Christmas Bazaar we are going to be selling those bowls and getting free soup. So you buy the bowls, you get the soup for free and all the proceeds will go to support the food bank.”
They are asking for a donation of $16 for the bowls with soup. The bazaar will be this Saturday at the Baptist Mission’s Heritage Center, right across from Mission Beach.