Hungry at home
We’ve all heard about Help House in Oak Harbor and Good Cheer in Langley, but few have heard about Gifts from the Heart, a small food bank serving Central Whidbey from Coupeville to Greenbank.
MOLLY HUGHES is president of the grassroots organization that is into its third year of operation.
“LAURA BLANKENSHIP of Greenbank Farms gives us space to store the food,” Hughes said. “Our volunteers go there twice a month to fill about 90 bags, 20 of which go to Greenbank Progressive Hall and 70 to the Coupeville Fire Station.”
They served 313 people last month, 40 households in Coupeville and 20 in Greenbank.
An amazing group of volunteers, all senior citizens, do heavy manual labor preparing for distribution.
“CHERYL THOMAS keeps food rotated and searches food flyers each week; PEGGY SWART is her right hand. She buys food in bulk, and holds parties to fill bags from her shopping trips.”
Frequent food drives at Whidbey General Hospital and in Coupeville Schools keep donations flowing, and area businesses put out red plastic tubs to encourage giving.
This is the second year MISTY OWENBY, owner of Coupeville’s Touch of Dutch, has raffled a quilt and given the proceeds ($500 each year) to Gifts from the Heart.
If people need a hand or wish to donate, call Thomas at 678-8312, or write to Gifts from the Heart, P.O. Box 155, Coupeville, WA 98239.
To those Central Whidbey businesses and to the people who help others anonymously and without fanfare, your fellow islanders say “Thank you.”
‘It’s What They Do’
Assuming you work an average of 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, for 50 years, you will spend 100,000 hours at work.
TENNIS and SYLVIA VAN DEN HAAK never had 9-5 jobs with weekends off. They had trays of seedlings, thousands of them, to tend and they had children to raise and instill with the value of hard work.
“Our parents never complained,” said AUDREY VANDEN HAAK BUTLER, co-owner with her brother Henry of The Greenhouse Florist and Nursery. The middle child of five said, “They worked hard all their lives. It’s their culture. It’s what they do.”
The Boltman family sponsored the Van Den Haak’s when they moved here from Holland in 1949. Tennis got a job in a florist shop on Midway, where the log cabin building is today. They took over ownership in 1954, Tennis growing plants and Sylvia working up front.
The Greenhouse is celebrating their 50 years of growing and selling plants and flowers with a party on Saturday, Oct. 16. It will be just another day for Tennis and Sylvia, but it’s a milestone for their children and grandchildren who will keep the business alive for future generations.
Gone fishing
GAYLE BURDIN VYSKOCIL retired from federal service Sept. 17. She can be proud of her 26-year career spent working for various commands at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station before transferring to Naval Station Everett’s Fleet and Family Support Center in 1997 as Life Skills Site Manager.
GAYLE and JIM plan to fish the Snake River in northeast Oregon, put their Oak Harbor home on the market enjoy the sweet life on Camano Island.
That’s an order
He’s a cantankerous copy machine’s worst nightmare.
STAFF SGT. JOSEPH THIBODEAUX of Marine Aviation Training Support Group 53 volunteered his time on a recent Saturday at the PBY Memorial Foundation on Pioneer Way.
No time to kibitz, he went straight to work. In a matter of minutes, the reluctant copier straightened up and even had a spit shine on the glass.
As he left, the steely-eyed Marine slowly turned to the copier and ordered, “Drop and give me 50 … copies!”
Hoo-ah!
Help for the smallest
Childhaven helps prevent and stop the cycle of abuse and neglect through programs that protect and treat children from 1 month through 5 years and their families.
Proceeds from a Fab 4 event this Friday at 6 p.m. at the Edgewater on Seattle’s waterfront will benefit Childhaven’s Capital Campaign. Donations are $100 per ticket. For information or to purchase tickets, call 206-957-4807.
I’d love to hear from you at lifeonwhidbey@yahoo.com, or you may drop off your news at Whidbey News-Times’ front desk. Please include your phone number. See you next week!
