'There's not a potato left'
<p>Second Harvest Mobile Food Bank volunteer Lowell Nelson hands Arlene Nelson of Coeur d'Alene a bag of bagels at the food bank's distribution on Tuesday at Christ the King Lutheran Church. "I get a nice selection of food here, from apples to bread to coffee," Luskin says. "It's more than I can ask for." The mobile food bank distributed food to over 200 families.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - More than 255 participants visited the mobile food bank at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Coeur d'Alene on Tuesday.
"There is not a potato left," said Mike Haas, executive director at Christ the King, about the successful event.
The church works with the Spokane-based group 2nd Harvest to host the food distribution events. Haas said the free provisions are available to any household that needs them, no documentation required.
Volunteers distributed 8,167 pounds of supplies on Tuesday including bread, apples, coffee, fresh and frozen packages of potatoes, onions, chicken, and bags of apple chips. Boxes of Neosporin, an item not usually part of the supplies offered, had been donated through Feeding America, a national nonprofit that supplies domestic food banks.
Retiree Dolores Johnson, like most attendees, arrived during the first hour of the event.
"This is great, it really helps," said Johnson, who said her sole source of income is Social Security.
"There are times when I need this kind of stuff," she added, surveying the available stock of potatoes, chicken, and apple chips.
Mary Taylor also attended, saying a three-year-long dip in sales at her family-owned Triple T Nursery in Careywood has brought a dip in income.
"We haven't had the money coming in," said Taylor, who said the provisions distributed at Christ the King are a helpful supplement.
Taylor, whose business produces Grand Firs for Christmas trees, said those have sold as usual recently, but she has not been able to sell the usual volume of Blue Spruce trees to housing developers.
"They are gorgeous - powder blue now - and we had to cut down some of the 20-foot ones because we were running out of room," Taylor said.
Christ the King Lutheran Church will host additional food distributions on Aug. 13 and Sept. 17, the final event of the year. It will take place rain or shine. Christ the King, at 1700 Pennsylvania Ave., also has a community food bank inside the church on Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Ervin Robison, who oversees the 2nd Harvest mobile food bank, said the fresh produce is donated to the program by local farmers. The organization distributes free food to counties in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
Pam Stillwell came from Post Falls on Tuesday to collect provisions for a wheelchair-bound friend in Hayden, who lives on a fixed income. "Food is so darned expensive," Stillwell said.
Stillwell commended the "extremely helpful" volunteer Ranotta Brauer who stood in line for Stillwell, who is sun-sensitive as a side effect of current medication, and helped Stillwell carry the supplies to her car.
Brauer, who lives in Coeur d'Alene and has been a church member since 1979, said, "I'm glad so many people came. We also have some products we don't usually have, so it's a blessing that it reaches so many people."