Active seniors form the backbone of Gifts from the Heart.

The food bank assists hungry folks who live on Central Whidbey Island. The bags of food are distributed in Coupeville and assembled in Greenbank.

“On a Wednesday, we generally prepare and give out around 96 bags,” Cheryl Thomas said. Thomas is in charge of organizing, purchasing and storage of food for Gifts from the Heart.

Operating a food bank is a labor intensive job that is mostly tended to by the older generation. The work is divided between two sets of volunteers: Those who bag, organize and tote the food, and a seprate group of people who actually hand out the food.

Molly Hughes is president of Gifts from the Heart. Hughes said the food bank couldn’t function without the volunteers because it doesn’t have a staffing budget. Volunteers help by shopping for food, bagging, organizing and taking care of distribution.

All together 1,818 volunteer hours were logged for 2004.

Gifts from the Heart relies almost solely on donations, with the exception of purchasing fresh produce.

“This time we spent $52.50 and bought vine-ripe tomatoes from Prairie Center in Coupeville. They give us a better bang for our buck since they either give it to us at cost price or give us a discount for buying our produce in bulk from them,” Thomas said.

The food bank first distributed food on Feb. 14, 2002, and has been going strong with volunteer support since then.

Coupeville and Greenbank communities definitely have folks who are in need of food. Currently, about 80 percent of food bank recipients live in Coupeville.

Last year, Gifts from the Heart distributed food to 4,006 people, giving away 2,172 bags of groceries. During the holidays they distributed 72 Thanksgiving turkeys and 53 Christmas hams.

Currently, all of the food that is collected for the food bank is stored at the Greenbank Farm.

The food is bagged and distributed twice a month with distribution on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. The food is handed out in the old firehouse, near the hospital, in Coupeville between 1 and 5 p.m.

Gifts from the Heart volunteers hope to move food bank operations into the old fire hall building, near the hospital in Coupeville.

Right now, negotiations are underway for the Boys & Girls Club of Coupeville to become established in the building. If Boys & Girls Club is approved, Gifts from the Heart will share the building, which will allow storing and organizing the food in one central location.

At present, the food overflows into volunteers’ garages, causing difficulties when it is time to get the bags ready to hand out

Another benefit of the old fire hall is space for refrigerators and freezers so that the food bank can offer healthier food to its clients.

Bruce and Barbara Wood have been volunteering at Gifts from the Heart for about eight months.

“The best part about being a volunteer here is the people that we get to work with. This is a good worthy cause and when we saw an ad in the newspaper that they needed volunteers we decided to give it a try,” Barbara said.