Giving is often all about, giving someone a chance, and it’s never too late or too early to start.

“If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart” – Arab Proverb

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” –  Mother Teresa

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

“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.” – Albert Camus

“For it is in giving that we receive.” –  Saint Francis of Assisi

“They who give have all things; they who withhold have nothing”  - Hindu Proverb

The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.” - Leo F. Buscaglia American guru, tireless advocate of the power of love, 1924-1998.

“To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own.” Anne Morrow Lindbergh American writer and aviation pioneer, 1906-2001.

“Give what you have to somebody, it may be better than you think.” Henry Wadsworth

“Give me love, give me peace on earth, give me light, give me life, keep me free from birth, give me hope, help me cope, with this heavy load, trying to, touch and reach you with, heart and soul.” – George Harrison

“Giving people self-confidence is by far the most important thing that I can do. Because then they will act.” –  Jack Welsh former CEO GE

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” –  Winston Churchill

Sometimes a small thing you do can mean everything in another person’s life.

“When you learn, teach. When you get, give.” Maya Angelou a voice of contemporary literature.

“Memories are perhaps the best gifts of all.” –  Gloria Gaither

“Never get tired of doing little things for others, sometimes those little things occupy the biggest parts of their hearts.” –  Unknown

I wish there was room to show a photo of everyone who has helped the food bank this year.

You are loved and appreciated. Together we are changing our little part of the world.

You are all making a difference!

Good Cheer and Happy New Year!

Deck the Doors and its Plum Pudding Pennies was a great success story for the Holiday Season. The Langley Main Street Association with the help of the Langley Chamber of Commerce created an event that was fun for the community and a tremendous fund raising event for the Good Cheer Food Bank.

Sixty five of our local merchants were involved, decorating their doors hoping to win the people’s choice for best door. Visitors, shoppers and shop owners voted for the best door by stuffing money (Plum Pudding Pennies) into ballot boxes in each of the shops.  The shop that collected the most money would be declared the winner and the money would go to the Good Cheer Food Bank.

The winner of the 2011 Deck the Doors contest was Coldwell Banker Tara Properties on Second Street in Langley. Janet Ploof from the Main Street Association said that the $960 donation to the food bank  from this year’s winner was significant and that  “a sizable portion of the donation came from the individual real estate agents in their office, their door was cool, a wreath made of house keys, decorated miniature doors and blue prints! Some of the agents were born on Whidbey Island, and all of the agents are super supporters of Langley…..they rock!”

It was wonderful to see so many businesses involved in helping the food bank and we say our thanks for their spirit and good will. The Deck the Doors contest raised $2258 for the food bank and people in need on South Whidbey Island. The Chamber of Commerce’s buy local $1000 raffle promotion had an interesting twist for the Holidays.  The $1000 raffle prize went to the food bank as well; all because of the generosity of an anonymous shopper who donated their winning ticket to Good Cheer!

All together the events in Langley raised $3258 and with our creative shopping that is quite a bit of food that you all just helped to put on the table.

A special thank you goes out to Sherry Jennings at the Chamber and Janet Ploof with the Main Street Association who championed the cause.

Have a Very Happy Holiday Season!

Want to learn about coupon clipping from a pro?  Ula Lewis will be at the food bank in Bayview this coming week to help you learn how to maximize your dollars. Ula will have two coupon classes one on Tuesday, October 5th from 5:00-7:00 p.m.  and again on the 6th from 10:00 a.m. until noon.

She will be back each week at the same time for consultations. If you would like to be on her email list you can send an email to damien@goodcheer.org  and we’ll get you on her list.

Ula raised 11 children and she had to watch her food budget; clipping coupons was one technique that worked very well.

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.

Does this get your attention? That looks like 100% savings; yes no bill.

Ula 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!

You may be surprised by what you can learn!

Good Cheer!

I thought that this might be an interesting topic since we have just finished with our Talent Show event. JaNoah Spratt was a moving force behind the fund raiser and a symbol of what the young can and are doing throughout the world.

The actions of a few can change the world. It all begins with small steps; random acts of kindness and focused attempts to help one another.

This story was written by Mark Clawson. It is a wonderful story about  young people taking time out of their lives to help others.

Here is his story:

If you haven’t noticed; young people are getting involved. This seems to be a generational change and one that bodes well for the future of our planet.

My daughter’s husband, Joe Osborne, spent time in Kenya a couple of years ago working at an AIDS hospice. While he did have a bout with malaria; his real memories come from the time spent helping the people. My daughter, Meredith, spent time working as a children’s counselor for Americorp helping those with less.

Last year the two of them made a trek to South Africa, setting aside time in their lives, to help others. They were a part of an organization called Generation Joy.

Here is a photo from South Africa; Joe is on the bottom far left and Meredith is in the yellow jacket.

My African connection:

Their trek reminded me that it was an anniversary event for me! Forty years ago, in July of 1969, I began a very memorable year in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was stationed at the Ethiopian Mapping Mission, thankfully not in Vietnam. This was a foreign aid project that was involved in mapping certain regions in Ethiopia.

I remember being surprised to find high-rise buildings and telephone poles. Most of what I knew about Africa came from National Geographic or from watching “Abbott and Costello in Africa”. The biggest surprise came as I was walking into town and came across a television store; right in front of me was Neil Armstrong stepping down on the Moon!

July 20, 1969 - ”That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

There is much that can be learned by experiencing another person’s culture. This type of education is not in books; it flows to your heart and soul. People are wonderful everywhere you go, that is why it is such a great experience to give.

Meredith and Joe were part of the Generation Joy Foundation; their trek involved bringing donated goods to the children of a small town in Africa.

The Generation Joy Logo is a symbol of unity in diversity; oneness of humanity in spite of cultural differences.

Curtis Betzler the founder of the Generation Joy Foundation is a science teacher at Beaver Lake Middle School in the State of Washington. He says that the idea of “kids helping kids” began nine years ago on a personal trip to Ghana.

Betzler found that there was an incredible need for educational resources and the basic needs that we all take for granted.

“Knowing that I teach in a place where, in many cases, we have an excess of resources and most all of our basic needs are met, I began working on a way to connect the two regions.” Betzler believes that in the right environment; all people want to learn and also that all people like to share.”

“This idea really took off due to the efforts of the children in the community where I work. They readily gave not only resources, but time, energy, planning and commitment to see this project through. The effort was rewarded when I witnessed the joy of children in Africa when receiving these resources and the impact it has had on their lives and community.”

Last year, Generation Joy filled two 40-foot freight containers with supplies. Among the thousands of goods packed in those vessels were 11,000 books, 170 computers, 60 bicycles, and hundreds of soccer balls.

You can view the Generation Joy South African slide show by clicking here

“The potential is endless,” he said. “I think kids enjoy giving. They just need an outlet and a resource.”

Another group of teenagers growing up in Cincinnati started a program called H.O.P.E. with the idea of making a difference in the world. H.O.P.E is an acronym for Help Other People Endure. You will be very impressed with what these young ladies have accomplished. When you view the video make sure you view it in full screen mode.

Just click here.

We have a wonderful network of giving on South Whidbey; what a blessing to live in this community!

Good Cheer!

WISH – Whidbey Island Share a Home is a non-profit program for affordable housing created almost six ago by the Soroptimists of South Whidbey Island.  WISH became an independent program one year later under the leadership of their  founders.  They have grown into an island wide program, serving the community for the last two years but have kept their roots in Freeland.  The WISH office is housed at the Trinity Lutheran Church on Rt 525.

Their mission is to provide affordable housing alternatives on Whidbey Island. They utilize existing housing by helping bring together home providers, who want to share their homes, with home seekers looking for an affordable place to live. Home providers are willing to share space in their home in exchange for rent, services or a combination of both.

For older home owners, sharing means remaining independent in their own homes. No two home sharing arrangements are alike. They vary according to the personal needs, time and abilities of the people involved.

What is unique about this program is that they attempt to match the home provider and home seeker through a process. This is not like sharing a home through Craigslist or through the newspaper.

The process has the following steps:

1. The first step is to request an application.
2. WISH then will contact references and conduct a criminal background check.
3. There is an in-depth interview to understand your housing needs and personal interests.
4. Profile listings of all approved home providers and home seekers are made available.
5. WISH is a “self-match” program. You decide who you would like to meet. If both parties are in agreement, WISH provides contact information.
6. Once you have met, you both decide if you want to live together.

Why do people want to home-share?

People enter home sharing arrangements for many different reasons. Some people want help with housing expenses, while others are interested in companionship or security. Some home sharing matches involve the exchange of home services in place of part or all of the rent. These services can help older adults maintain their homes.

Home sharing can help people of all ages through transitional periods such as a divorce, loss of a spouse, temporary unemployment, or educational pursuits. The rent will vary match to match. Rent is determined by the home-provider, and will depend on the type of services, if any, the home-seeker will provide.

Home seekers are looking for affordable housing on Whidbey Island. For those looking for a place to rent, sharing offers a better place to live for less.

Over eighty per cent of their clients are women and women with children.  The vast majority are over 60 years old. They may be homeless or they may face the need to be placed in a care facility. Many potential home providers can’t  safely remain in their homes alone or they face the threat of  losing their homes due to finances. People can help each other and help to overcome these circumstances.

WISH made 53 matches in the past year, more than doubling the previous year but with less funding.  Due to the economy their community outreach has been below expectations but the need continues to increase.

WISH works with the Rural Homeless population. These are not the street homeless that we see on the street corners in big city’s but the working poor and those on fixed incomes.

WISH strives to help everyone who comes to their door but the availability of affordable housing on the island does not come close. The vast majority of  home seekers have an income that is 30% of the national poverty level. Many of these are also the same folks who use our wonderful food bank to make ends meet and put a wholesome healthy meal on the table.

There is no “”housing bank’ to shelter people on a cold wet night in January. Imagine sitting in a car at the Park and Ride trying to put your life in order and just wishing for a real home.  We all know the need on this island. When people are hungry we all help to feed them; now please lets help them find a safe affordable place to live.

You can seek help by clicking on this link to WISH. Their website will answer your questions and give you an opportunity to help with a donation.

Good Cheer!

Good Cheer knew that South Whidbey had talent and it was on full display last weekend at our fund raising event “The Mother of All Talent Shows”. Once again Good Cheer is indebted to so many, more than we could ever individually list in this space.  This was a concerted effort from everyone in the community pulling together to help people in need.

There is something about this community that engenders a certain warmth and a feeling of belonging. It was no more apparent than at this wonderful display of local talent; a definite “10”. The quality of the performances went way beyond everyone’s expectations. The beauty of the show was in the diversity of talent and the participation that came from young and not so young.  When you combine talented performers and the first class theatre at South Whidbey High School it spelled success.

A young man by the name of JaNoah Spratt and a State Representative Norma Smith gave the show its wings and I’m sure that it will become an annual event.

Good Cheer has traditionally relied on Thrift Store sales and community monetary donations to support Food Bank operations, but because of increasing client numbers, the Board of Directors have asked the staff to add a fundraising component. The talent show proceeds were $5090 which was pleasantly $1890 over what Good Cheer staff had budgeted.  We are so grateful and wish to extend a “BIG” thank you to everyone who played a part in our first annual talent show.

South Whidbey has a tradition of hosting talent shows and we will make sure that the tradition continues.

The highlight of the evening was when Representative Norma Smith, having made prior arrangements with Good Cheer, presented JaNoah with a flag that had flown over the state capital and a document acknowledging his exemplary service to our community. JaNoah was the driving force behind the talent show; he secured all the raffle donations, assisted with production, and was a performer as well. JaNoah continues to set an example that we call all look up to!

We have put together a slide show of the event; all you have to do is click on the above photo. You can view the slide show in full screen by clicking on the icon in the lower right corner of the slide show screen. The photos came from two of our volunteers who gave of their time to leave us with their photo memories. Thank you Hal Seligson and Corrine Bayley!

Together we are creating a hunger-free community!

Good Cheer!

Team Earth and Harrison Ford are teaming up and bringing awareness to sustainable living on our planet.

Every living organism on this planet is an energy of light in the universe. With enough energy we can bring a new light of hope to this planet. This is all about getting involved and being aware that the actions of a few can start that process moving forward.

This is not about politics it is about having a common purpose that works for everyone.

About Team Earth:

Ensuring the sustainability of Earth’s essential resources while maintaining economic growth is the defining challenge of the 21st century. How we manage the gifts of nature – a stable climate, fresh water and abundant oceans, fertile soils for food, the right conditions for healthy lives and the ability to sustainably balance human needs – will determine the long-term health and prosperity of all people, everywhere.

You can click on the photo below ro view the video. This is a You Tube video and you may want to click on full screen to get a better visual impact when you get to the video.

Are You In?

Convened by Conservation International, Team Earth will unite businesses, non-profit organizations, scientists, educators, individuals and children in an international collective action campaign to address the most pressing environmental issues facing humanity.

Our first challenge of saving forests is just the beginning for Team Earth.

Are you in? Here is a link to Team Earth.

Some of you may know that I am helping Kathy with the Good Cheer Blog; my name is Mark. Earlier this summer I wrote a post, while I was living in Las Vegas, about my daughter and her husband and their experiences in giving back to the world community. You can access that post by clicking on  “Kids Helping Kids in Africa”.

Students from South Whidbey Island High School and the Langley Middle School have been very involved with the  Good Cheer Garden Program; which is very special.  Here is a link to a site that can get your kids or schools involved in the Team Earth Project.

The new blog site is enabling us to get information to you on a more frequent basis. Some of you, who are actively involved, will be more aware of the progress and goals that we have set.

Now that Phase One is completed it is time to move on to the next phase.

September 12th was when Laura Price, the former Board President, burned the old loan papers. Now the facility and its improvements are free and clear. Phase One involved the purchase of the former Masonic Lodge and property in Bayview, plus making renovations and constructing the addition of a freezer and refrigerator wing.

The next challenge involves opening up the second floor of The Good Cheer Langley Thrift Store. The thrift stores are the main operational funding source for the food bank. The addition of an elevator to the second floor will allow us establish office spaces, meeting rooms, storage and a place to mark and price merchandise. This will allows us to renovate the main floor and  add more floor space.

The thrift stores are what make The Good Cheer Food Bank truly unique. We don’t have to rely on governmental grants/programs and general fund raising for financial stability.

Many food banks across America are seeing shortages; we are much more stable with the support
that the thrift stores provide.

Also, unlike many other food banks in the state, Good Cheer Food Bank is open at least seven hours a day, six days a week and even provides home delivery to house-bound seniors and the disabled. A search for other similar programs has not turned up a comparable self-sustaining food bank operation in terms of scale and hours of operation in western Washington.

This successful and replicable funding approach has caught the interest of other food banks in the Northwest. With the improvement of facilities, Good Cheer will offer information to other organizations interested in this model of client services and operational sustainability.

People helping people for all the right reasons; pretty wonderful!

The additional square footage could well mean an additional $25,000 a year in revenues. This money will help to fund the operational aspect of the Food Bank. The capital campaign is currently at $1,137,00; 81% towards its $1.4 million goal.

You may ask who we are serving on South Whidbey? In 2007 Good Cheer provided food to 2,780 people. In 2008, this number jumped to 4,044, and in 2009, client numbers were once again up; 5,046 people accessed supplemental food through the Food Bank at least once during the year. In December of 2009, 830 households came to the Food Bank.

Clients include the unemployed, single mothers, seniors, the chronically ill, the physically and mentally disabled, displaced homemakers, homeless teens and families, and increasingly, the working poor.

Due to the high cost of living on South Whidbey, Good Cheer assists many families where either one or both parents are employed, the working poor. According to the U.S. 2000 census, in Freeland alone, about 10% of families and 12% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.9% of those under age 18 and 6% of those age 65 or over. Many clients only access the Food Bank for a short time while others rely on it year round.

Please help us complete the campaign. Capital Campaign donations can be mailed to Good Cheer Capital Campaign: PO Box 144, Langley, WA 98260.

Here is a link to our Donation Page.

For information about making a pledge, building naming opportunities, and gifts of stock or property, contact Kathy McLaughlin at Good Cheer at (360) 221-6454, ext. 6.

Welcome to our new Good Cheer Blog! While we do have a website and a garden blog; I thought it was time to develop a blog site that highlights what we are doing at the food bank and the thrift stores. Websites tend to be rather static; it is difficult to add new content to a website.

A blog allows us to have a conversation with the community, its supporters and the volunteers that work so hard to make it all work. The use of photos to paint a picture is what makes blogging so powerful; unlike websites and newspapers. Photos can and do tell a story and I hope to bring them to you.

WhidbeyIslandLife.com, a blog here on Whidbey, posted an article on the Good Cheer Food Bank just last month and I thought I would share it with you. This is the type of writing that I intend to pursue. I love the use of photos and I think that it is important to explain how the food bank and thrift stores operate. This will be a place where I can keep you informed about events and have some fun doing it!

Expect to see changes everyday;  this is a work in progress!

Hope you enjoy the article from Mark:

This food bank on South Whidbey Island is all about good cheer. The Good Cheer Food Bank and its Thrift Stores have turned into quite a success story. Good Cheer had originally bought some property near the current location where they were going to build their new facility. Turns out the Masons were looking to sell their site and Good Cheer made the decision to buy the property and structures that now make up the facilities at the Good Cheer Food Bank.

I dropped by the food bank last week to find out a little bit more about the bank and the people that operate it. Most of the work that is done at the food bank and thrift store is done by volunteers. These special people take time out of their lives to help other people and there is no better work than people helping people.

The Good Cheer Food Bank is open six days a week to South Whidbey Residents in need of food. So, how does one access the food bank? Just show up; the staff will ask you some simple questions and you will need to have proof of South Whidbey residency. They trust people when they say they need food. This spirit of trust is reflection of the good people who work hard to make this a better community.

Clients are given a base of 70 points, plus ten extra points for every member of the household. For instance, a family of four would receive 100 points a month to spend on selection of food in the Food Bank.

Foods receive points ranging from one to fifteen for items that include cereal, canned fruits and vegetables, soup, pasta, flour, beans, rice, eggs, milk, bread, lunch meat, peanut butter, jam, noodles, sauces, potatoes, oatmeal, juice, chili, meat, chicken, and fish as available. Fresh fruit and vegetables are also available.

Good Cheer has an on-site garden that provides fresh produce to those in need. I intend to write another post on the garden in the near future. There is so much good coming out of this organization that I don’t have the space to show it all in one post.  The two photos are from the garden blog site; looks to be harvest time!

For the full article click here.