When Coupeville’s Gifts from the Heart food bank opened back in 2002, it operated out of a closet at Greenbank Farm, with volunteers then distributing bags of donated food to hungry people around town. Eventually, it moved into the old fire station on North Main Street, which it shared with the Coupeville Boys and Girls Club until that club opened its own new building in 2023. It was a very busy and often cramped spot.

Every second and third Wednesday, as many as seven dozen people or more would line up at the North Main site and be handed red bags filled with a selection of food by the many volunteers on hand.

Flash forward to May 14, 2025. Gifts from the Heart has opened its beautiful new, $1 million food bank building at 108 Southwest Terry Road, near the Prairie Center Market. It’s the end result of hopes, dreams and fund-raising that the food bank has had for years, and it also represents a new and more dignified approach to distributing free food to those who need it.

“I’m so happy I can’t stand it, it’s such a dream come true,” said Coupeville Mayor Molly Hughes, the food bank’s board president who has been involved almost since the nonprofit organization began. “But it really doesn’t surprise me because this community has always come through when we needed it.”

The two-story structure has a “shopping space” filled with shelves loaded with canned foods and tables filled with fresh produce, meats, bread, pastries and deli items. It has a huge storage area with a large cooler and a big freezer. And above the ground floor are two 900-square-foot apartments that will be maintained as affordable housing for people who work in the Coupeville area.

The big difference for those who come to get food at the new Gifts from the Heart is that instead of being handed a bag of food packed by volunteers, individuals and families will select what they want from the shelves and tables in the new “shopping space.” On opening day, about 85 people came and shopped.

“This is such a wonderful change,” Hughes said. “There are many more choices for people and they get to select what they want themselves. There will be less waste because they won’t get anything they don’t like or can’t eat, which could happen when they received bags packed by the volunteers.”

The $1 million to build the new structure was raised over many years, with the largest portion coming since the pandemic. It had raised about $550,000 by 2021, then received a $230,000 state grant in 2022 followed by a gift of $140,000 from an anonymous donor in 2023.

The balance came in a final fundraising campaign in 2023 and construction began that fall.

The land was purchased from Ken Hofkamp, former owner of the Prairie Center Market, who is also a member of the food bank’s board. Hofkamp put his knowledge of food markets to good use by securing the beautiful shelves for the new food bank at no cost from a friend who operates food markets in the Poulsbo area.

“Ken picked up the shelves himself and brought them back, via two ferry rides, and we are so grateful for them,” Hughes said, explaining that it’s a perfect example of how the Coupeville community came together to make the new food bank a reality.

The food bank receives thousands of dollars in cash donations every year to buy food and accepts food donations at several sites in town, including the post office and Prairie Center Market.

“The success of Gifts from the Heart is a reflection of the generosity and care of the people of Coupeville,” Hughes said.

And to demonstrate that, she cites how the food bank was moved from its old location to the new one. Food bank volunteers spent hours boxing all the food, files and other material. The question became how it would all be transported to the new building.

Hughes contacted the Coupeville Lions Club to see if they could line up some trailers to move everything. In very short order, the Lions had lined up ten trailers — way more than were needed. “See what I mean about Coupeville people coming through?” she said.

Eventually, the Lions brought just the three trailers that were needed and 20 Lions Club members to load them.

“I thought it would take several hours but they moved it all and brought it into the new structure in just 57 minutes,” she said. “Amazing.”

And, indeed, the opening of the new Gifts from the Heart food bank is an amazing accomplishment.

Harry Anderson is a retired journalist who worked for the Los Angeles Times and now lives on Central Whidbey.