Wondering what the word “Choochokam” means? Choochokam is a Hopi word which roughly translates as “a Gathering of Stars.” Our “stars,” a diverse group of several hundred local artists, inspired by the early organizers to create what we now know as The Choochokam Festival of the Arts.

The Festival, which began as a dream, has been a reality for the past 35 years! This years event was a wonderful mix of art and music; the weather was just perfect.  The Choochokam Arts Festival has become a stage for our community artists and one can see that it is a true reflection of the richness and depth of talent found on the island.

On a warm sunny day what better than a root beer float!

Kay Stanley (pictured on the left) is a member of the board for the Good Cheer Food Bank. She headed the committee that put together this effort to raise money for our organization.

Kay organized 20 volunteers with shifts that included 3 volunteers per shift.

Good Cheer was spread through-out the weekend Food Bank fundraiser.

Total income from the event was $1090.55.

Another step in creating a hunger-free community.

Good Cheer!

Just last week we had volunteers from Windermere at Good Cheer. This sets a tremendous example for the people in the community. It also affirms the efforts that are made daily by our volunteers at the Good Cheer Food Bank and its Thrift Stores.

Volunteering is a form of giving. It is sharing what we value with others without counting on the reciprocal expectation of recognition or gratitude.

“The value of man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.”

–Albert Einstein

True giving is done without expecting something in return. Most of the time we are giving someone something they need, and they usually don’t have the means to give anything back. Usually, the act of giving is to help and the only thing that could diminish that act, I believe, is to do it expecting something out of it.

Good Cheer is blessed to have many volunteers that know the true value of giving.  This past Father’s Day we had two Dads who couldn’t be with their children; so why not help out at the thrift store.

This is a photo of Mike and Sydney with Cary Peterson (Good Cheer Garden Coordinator) at the Summer Volunteer Party.

Mike Hoffman was recently assigned the new role of managing the Langley Thrift Store Hardware department.  Mike and his wife Sydney (a food bank volunteer) got together with Don and Anne Zontine and decided to spend some time organizing the hardware department. By day’s end they had spent 5 hours at the thrift store on Father’s Day giving back and doing what only comes naturally to them.

This is a photo of Don and Anne working at the Good Cheer garden this past week. Anne is a regular garden volunteer and Don is a truck driver volunteer for Good Cheer.

It was far from an easy task to organize the hardware area at the Langley Store; I know that Mike has been working on it for a while.

There has also been great progress at the Clinton Thrift Store where you will find a large selection of tools to help you around the home.

The Good Cheer Food Bank is a life line for families who get cut off from the work force.  Many who had traditionally supported organizations such as ours (prior to the collapse of the economy a few years ago) now find themselves as recipients of this service.

Corrine Bayley Food Bank Volunteer works the check in counter every Tuesday afternoon and is our professional volunteer photographer.

When many public assistance programs were eliminated during the 1980s local communities found themselves swamped to provide basic nourishment for the elderly, families subsisting on one worker income at minimum wage, the unemployed and their children.

Colby Snow volunteers at special events and is the driver of our soap box derby car and provided technical support at our talent show.

Volunteer efforts through churches, local clubs and private organizations came together in many communities to provide this vital assistance.

Lou Donaty is Damien Cotez’s back-up man in the Food Bank.

But for the self-sacrifice of individuals who themselves are not wealthy and the generous donations of many others, many children in this country would suffer developmental issues related to nutrition and diet; and elder citizens on a fixed income would have to choose between their food and their medications.

Jim Engstrom is a longtime volunteer worker at Good Cheer Two, in the Food Bank and also the Distribution Center.

The volunteers that we have highlighted are just a few of the people that are so essential to the Good Cheer Food Bank and Thrift Stores.

If you have any interest in giving through volunteer work here is a link to helping in the fashion that suits you best.

Good Cheer!

Just a reminder on Good Cheer’s presentation of “The Mother of All Talent Shows” Saturday evening, May 8th at 7:30 p.m. in the South Whidbey High School auditorium.

The idea of a hosting a talent show started when Good Cheer volunteer, JaNoah Spratt was giving State Representative Norma Smith a tour of the Food Bank. JaNoah is pictured on the right of Damien Cortez. Damien our Food Bank Coordinator has been deeply involved in making this program a real success. We are very lucky to have them both on board.

Here are some photos of a few of our participants in this years Talent Show; you get feel for what you might be seeing at the show.

We couldn’t have found a better venue than the South Widbey High School Auditorium! What a perfect place to celebrate the talent that we have in our community.

The initial response to the event has been very good and we want to thank you all. We are expecting strong ticket sales at the ticket window on the day of the event. Let’s not disappoint; we want to make this an annual event:)

Tickets for the talent show are available at all Good Cheer locations for $10 and include a raffle ticket for people over 18.

You can also purchase raffle tickets separately: one ticket for $2; three tickets for $5; seven for $10; or 20 for $20 (the best deal).  You need not be present to win. The money from the sales of event tickets and raffle tickets will be used to support Good Cheer Food Bank programming.

Good Cheer!

Calling all volunteers to attend the 2010 Spring Volunteer Forum!

This forum will be April 15th and will include representatives from a number of local groups from the HELP Network. The individual groups will speak about what they do in our community to help those in need.

Among the groups that will be represented are the Island County Readines to Learn Foundation,Oasis for Animals, South Whidbey Commons, Friends of Friends, South Whidbey Youth Connection, Helping Hands, Saratoga Community Housing, the Senior Services of Island County Volunteer Chore Program, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Island County, DSHS, Pregnancy Care Clinic, Whidbey Island Nourishes and Kid’s First Island County.

We have highlighted two of those organizations on our blog site and you can click  on the highlighted links above to read more about those particular organizations. You can be assured that we continue to post articles on these organizations; they are such a great help to the people in our community.

These organizations, among others, play an important role in helping to strengthen the quality of life for our island neighbors. Having all of our volunteers know about these various organizations is important. They can share this information and refer clients to other resources in the community.  There are so many helping hands and it’s just a matter of making everyone aware of the opportunities that exist.

For example, Friends of Friends can provide financial assistance to individuals needing medical attention or prescription drug help.

Helping Hands can help people with unexpected expenses and utility bills.

Members of the Good Cheer Team at the Food Lifeline Conference.

While each organization that will participate in the forum has specific and individual criteria for their programs, just having the Good Cheer volunteers know where to refer island residents for help is so important.

The forum will be from 5:30 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.  on April 15th at the Langley Methodist Church; 3rd and Anthes Streets in the Fellowship Hall.

Good Cheer is proud to announce that volunteer hours rose by more than 6000 in 2009 over that of 2008.

In 2009, volunteers logged more than 25,935 hours at various duties at Good Cheer; supporting both the food bank and the thrift stores. What a wonderful group we have; people helping people in the best way possible.

Once again, if it weren’t for you – our volunteers – we wouldn’t be able to do what we do!

The Lions Club of South Whidbey Island will be sponsoring a Food Drive on Friday and Saturday, March 26th and March 27th. You can visit the Lions Club of South Whidbey by clicking here.

The Food Drive conducted by members of the Lions Club will benefit the Good Cheer Food Bank. This is a Lions Day event that can assist The Good Cheer Food Bank in its goal of creating a hunger-free community.

You can bring your non-perishable food donations to three different sites.

Langley – At the Star Store parking lot Friday, March 26th, from 10:00 am to 12 noon.

Bayview – At The Goose parking lot Friday, March 26th, from 1:00 pm until 3:00pm.

Freeland – At the Payless Foods parking lot on Saturday, March 27th, from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm.

Thanks go out to these merchants for allowing the Good Cheer Food Bank to further serve our community.

Thanks to Linds for filling the Lions Balloons!

Look for the Good Cheer Truck and the Lions Banner!

Thanks in advance for your support!

Volunteers really make Good Cheer a special place. They give energy and time out of their daily lives to help our community wide efforts on South Whidbey Island.  I wanted to spend some time recognizing the work of these special people; they are at the core of what we do at Good Cheer.

Ula Lewis is one of those special people.

Don’t let Ula see you throw away a coupon. She knows their real value.

Lewis is a special kind of volunteer for the Good Cheer Food Bank. She’s a coupon-clipper, organizer and frugal shopper who saves us hundreds of dollars a month by using coupons for items purchased at chain stores offering double and triple coupon redemptions.

As the mother of 11 children, Lewis had to watch her food budget at home and did so, partly by clipping coupons.

This past July, she decided to put her talent to work for Good Cheer by organizing coupons that Good Cheer had on hand and then adding to them. With the help of a small circle of friends, the coupon collection began to grow; so much so that Lewis invested in large plastic bins to keep all the coupons well filed.

Just about weekly, Ula and her friend Iola Helland go shopping on the mainland, mostly at the Albertsons and Fred Meyer stores.

“I tell the stores that I am shopping for the Good Cheer Food Bank, and that I am using coupons and will be buying sale items. Sometimes I phone ahead and they can bring in more of an item and hold it back for me.”

She always tries to shop more than one location of each store so that she doesn’t wipe any one store out of any products.

A recent example of her work are the boxes of brand name cereal on the shelves at the Food Bank. “They were marked $4.89 a box; but I watched the ads and found them on sale for $1.88 a box. I had a dollar off coupon for each box. So I got that cereal at 88 cents a box.” Another find was Kraft salad dressing at 37 cents a bottle, once the coupon was applied.

Lewis also will get certificates, from some stores, for $25 off her next purchases because of the quantity of groceries she buys, then uses them on her next shopping trip for Good Cheer.

She can spend up to 30 hours a week at her coupon and shopping work for Good Cheer; on top of volunteering at the Food Bank. This is a woman with a great heart!

“I appreciate Ula’s willingness to devote time not only for the coupon clipping and shopping, but also here at the Food Bank” says Food Bank Manager Damien Cortez. “She comes in regularly just to see if we need help and will give up her entire day just because she sees the need. I honestly don’t know what we would have done without her this week!”

We all love what Ula is doing for us at the food bank. It is something many in the community had encouraged us to do. It was so nice when someone said I will do it for you!

Lewis had a time in her life when she was on food stamps, so she understands the value of help. “I learned then that you can use coupons with food stamps. I figured if someone was going to give me money for food, I would spend it in the most economical way that I could.”

Helping others now is a way of paying back.

Anyone wanting to give coupons to Lewis for her project can bring them to Good Cheer.  Ulla will make good use of them:)