Workers from Boeing's Airborne Early Warning and Control team on Friday made a donation of more than 12,000 food items to the Kent Food Bank as part of their October outreach program.

According to Kent Food Bank Executive Director Jeniece Choate, the food totaled 9,020 pounds.

"It's wonderful," she said Monday. "It's just great."

Bill Mickelson headed up the drive for Boeing and said the AEWC program, which is based in Kent, has in the past done chili cook-offs and costume contests, but this year wanted to give back to the community. They resurrected the idea of a food drive, something they had done a few years ago.

"We're very fortunate to have jobs at Boeing," Mickelson said. "We were more than happy to share with folk that are having a hard time."

To spur further donations, the program's workers, who are working on the next generation of Boeing surveillance aircraft, were divided into seven teams and pitted against each other.

"The competition spurred it on," Mickelson said.

Mickelson said in this down economy, many of the workers have friends and family who are out-of-work, which inspired the teams even more. Mickelson said they contacted the Kent Food Bank and discovered that 90 percent of the households they serve live on incomes of $15,000 per year or less.

With that, the donations started to roll in, building momentum with the competition between teams.

According to Mickelson, one team collected more than 2,000 items as well as $1,500 in cash for their team leader to buy more food for the food bank.

In the end, 12,697 items of food were delivered to the Food Bank Friday afternoon.

Choate said when she was originally contacted by Mickelson, he expected a small donation.

"It started out very small," Choate said. "They anticipated a couple hundred pounds."

But with every subsequent phone call from Boeing, the numbers grew until finally, it took four van loads to bring all of the donations to the food bank.

Choate said the donation comes at a "great time" for the food bank, which has seen an uptick this year and expects even higher numbers as winter approaches.

"We have a lot of people coming in through the doors," Choate said. "We're coming into the cold season."

Choate also praised the type of food collected by the Boeing workers, saying it was all non-perishable and much of it high-protein.

"Not only is a great amount of food but the type of food is great," she said.

"It was a lot of goodness," Mickelson said after delivering the food. "Time well spent."

The Kent Food Bank is located at 515 W. Harrison St, Ste. 107. It is open from 8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday or by appointment.

According to Executive Director Jeniece Choate, the Kent Food Bank sees more than 150 families per day and accepts donations during regular business hours.

The Food Bank is looking specifically for items such as peanut butter, canned meats and "shelf-stable milk" as well as canned vegetables, canned fruits, soups and chili. They are also in need of toiletries and baby items, especially formula.

For more information, call 253-520-3550.

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