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Donations flood in for damages community food bank
After a massive pine tree damaged containers where a Mill Creek food bank stores their food to give to those in need, the community flooded the organization with support, raising enough money to build a new warehouse.
SEATTLE - A massive pine tree slammed on top of the containers where the Mill Creek Community Food Bank sorts and holds the food they give to the community back in February.
It forced the organization that helps others to ask for help itself.
via Mill Creek Community Food Bank
By the numbers:
Now, thanks to the community and 220 donors, the food bank raised $250,000-$300,000, which is enough money to build a food bank warehouse that will be 80-feet long and 56-feet wide. "I can envision it in my head,"
Tom Sweeney, the Executive Director of Hope Creek Charitable Foundation, which operates the food bank, said he is beyond grateful for the community support they’ve received.
Mill Creek Food Bank storage
What they're saying:
"I’m humbled, and I’m just in awe of what could be," he said.
Sweeney told FOX 13, despite losing those buildings, they haven’t skipped a beat. They serve 450 families every week, which is about 1,800 people.
On Monday, they held a groundbreaking ceremony for the warehouse. "These are such uncertain times with tariffs and inflation and people losing their jobs and to be able to be part of the solution and not the problem is really nice," Sweeney said.
Tom Sweeney, the Executive Director of Hope Creek Charitable Foundation
It will allow those in need to get help all year round. "I just think, man, how great is that? If you’re already down and out and now you’re standing out in the freezing cold because you’re hungry, if we can get them under a canopy, treat them with respect and give them the dignity they deserve, I mean that’s what I would want," Sweeney said.
He understands, because he was once where these folks are. "We’re all just a paycheck away. I grew up poor, and I’ve been in line with my mom, and it’s humbling, and I was just a kid I didn’t know better, but when you look, it’s like opening the cupboard and it’s empty and feeling hungry. Nobody should feel that way," Sweeney said.
He told FOX 13, he hopes to turn one of the containers into a clothing store without the cash register.
They hope to have the warehouse open and operating by Thanksgiving, and once it is, they’ll be part of the disaster plan for South Snohomish County and the city of Mill Creek.
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The Source: Information for this story came from original FOX 13 Seattle interview.