Over the past year, the amount of food Coupeville’s food bank, Gifts from the Heart, receives from Northwest Harvest in Seattle has basically doubled.

The extra pounds of food wore out a little pickup truck that was driven down to Seattle to collect the food, and volunteers were starting to raise money to buy a new vehicle.

“We thought it was going to be a real long fund-raising thing,” said Gifts of the Heart volunteer Molly Hughes, who is also a Coupeville Town Council member.

The wait wasn’t as long as volunteers expected. Gifts from the Heart received an $11,000 grant from the Tulalip Tribes, located near Marysville, which was double the amount asked.

That amount, coupled with several other private donations, is enough for volunteers to start shopping for a cargo van with low miles.

In its fifth year, Gifts of the Heart offers food to approximately 150 people two Wednesdays each month. In 2006, the volunteer-run organization gave food to more than 1,700 families between Coupeville and Greenbank.

That was a lot more than the three people who showed up the first day Gifts from the Heart opened. Hughes said there were more volunteers than people that first day of operations.

Gifts from the Heart has expanded its facilities as the number of people who need food increases. The food bank, originally located at the Greenbank Farm, moved into the old Coupeville Fire Station in November 2005, which is a space shared with the Coupeville Boys and Girls Club. Then, in February 2006, refrigerators were installed at the old fire station.

The new refrigerators allowed Gifts from the Heart to add perishable food such as meat and fresh produce.

With the new equipment, volunteers could double the amount of food from the Seattle-based food bank.

“It completely changed the food selection to our clients,” Hughes said.

However, the two pallets worth of food put a lot of stress on the small pickup truck. When it broke down on Interstate 5 last year, volunteers started planning to upgrade the vehicle. It was time, as the number of households served in 2006 was a 9.5 percent increase from the previous year.

With more people using the food bank, local food donations are needed more than ever. Food can be donated at Whidbey Island Bank in Coupeville, the Coupeville Post Office and Prairie Center. Cash donations can be sent to Gifts of the Heart, PO Box 155, Coupeville, WA 98239.

Volunteers distribute food the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 2 to 5 p.m. at the old fire station at 203 Main St. and at the Greenbank Progressive Club.