Drive past the Snoqualmie Valley Food Bank on distribution days and you might think you’re missing out on some sort of festivities. All day Wednesdays, people are hustling in and out of the little building next to the North Bend Community Church, or gathered in tents, or just standing around outside, and everyone is chatting, chatting.
So when the food bank actually did host some festivities last Thursday, things didn’t look a lot different, until you got up close. There was a fire pit, a live band and lots of activity. Some of the people standing around in conversational groups outside, though, were actually mannequins, dressed up to intrigue and to educate.
“Everyone is coming up to the mannequins, ‘what’s that all about?’” said Heidi Dukich, executive director of the Snoqualmie Valley Food Bank, which hosted an open house for the community Nov. 10. “These are all profiles of people who use the food bank.”
Each mannequin was dressed like a person you’d see in the community and, silent though they were, each had a story to tell.
Dukich pulled a slip of paper out of one’s pocket and read aloud about Lorna (not her real name). Lorna comes to the food bank every week, sometimes during the senior citizen distribution days on Mondays, sometimes on the normal Wednesdays, to stock up on basics.
“She’s a senior, and she works at the outlet mall, part time,” read Dukich. “She doesn’t have a car, she uses the shuttle bus a lot… and she has to move out of her home soon, so that could change what she wants to take this week.”
To really learn about Lorna, guests were invited to assume her persona, or another food bank client’s in going through the process, starting with intake, where food bank board member Nancy Jones and manager Susan Murphy explained how clients first get help from the food bank.
Each one first meets with a staff member and gives them basic information about their home and family members, including their addresses.
“We just want to make sure we’re serving our neighbors in the Upper Valley,” said Jones, since there are several food banks in the Snoqualmie Valley.
Everyone who comes to the food bank will receive food, Murphy added, but clients from Carnation, Fall City, and Preston are given the information for food banks right in their communities, too, for future reference.
After intake, the clients can pick their persona from a mannequin, then go inside to shop for them. They received paper bags and shopped the food bank, collecting cards with pictures of food instead of the actual bread, vegetables and other supplies that were stocked inside.
As they shopped, guests were also introduced to how the food bank operates, where donations come from, what other services, including access to the Kiwanis Giving Tree program (signups are open through Dec. 7), assistance programs like WIC, and other organizations, such as Eastside Baby Corner.
To learn more about the Snoqualmie Valley Food Bank, volunteer, or donate, visit www.snoqualmievalleyfoodbank.com.
A food bank volunteer answers questions as a guest goes through the experience of shopping as a food bank client. Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo
Michele McNany and Karen Birzell talk at the food bank’s open house, next to mannequins representing food bank clients. Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo
A North Bend family talks with Heidi Dukich during the Snoqualmie Valley Food Bank’s open house Thursday, Nov. 10. Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo
A North Bend family talks with Heidi Dukich during the Snoqualmie Valley Food Bank’s open house Thursday, Nov. 10. Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo
A card identifies each mannequin at the Snoqualmie Valley Food Bank open house. They served as visual representations of actual food bank clients. Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo
A card identifies each mannequin at the Snoqualmie Valley Food Bank open house. They served as visual representations of actual food bank clients. Carol Ladwig/Staff Photo
