Help house helps more

Need for Thanksgiving food baskets is on a steady upward trend in Oak Harbor.

Last year, the North Whidbey Help House distributed 491 Thanksgiving food boxes. For the past several weeks, Help House staff and volunteers have kept extremely busy sorting donations and packing baskets for this year’s fall holiday.

Help House will need many more baskets. “At this time, my best guesstimate is at least 550 — minimum,” Executive Director Jean Wieman said. “We’re going nuts.”

Donations are holding strong, she said, but as soon as the food comes in, it goes right back out.

“We broke our numbers,” Wieman said of the growth in community need.

For the month of October, the Help House distributed 607 boxes of food, feeding 1,478 people, she said.

The constant stream of food going out the door is a little concerning to Wieman, who said that this is the time of year that Help House stockpiles donations for the rest of the year, when donations tend to arrive less frequently.

And Thanksgiving is not the end of the holiday chaos, she said.

“We’ll do it all over again for Christmas, although the need will be a little less,” Wieman said.

The Oak Harbor Harvest Celebration is also looking for more donations for its seventh annual Thanksgiving dinner at the Elks Club, said organizer K.C. Pohtilla.

So far 350 volunteers have signed on, and Pohtilla is hoping for more.

“We expect a bigger group because of the economy,” she said of attendance this year.

Organizer Jack Stiltz expects more than 5,000 to attend the free feast.

Pohtilla said the event caters to everyone.

“Working people can call ahead to pick up a dinner to take home to their families. People who are working through Thanksgiving can call and we’ll drop off a plate at their work,” she said.

The Whidbey Cruisers will also deliver Thanksgiving baskets to people who are unable to leave their homes for the celebration.

The Community Harvest will take place Nov. 27 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oak Harbor Elks Lodge 155 NE Ernst St.

For more information on volunteering, or to donate, call Pohtilla at 360-679-2425.

Whidbey News Times Reporter Jenny Manning can be reached at jmanning@whidbeynewstimes.com.

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