Another quarter, another three solid months of increased service from SPiN Cafe.
SPiN Executive Director Tom Saunders recently released stats comparing monthly meals served in all of 2019 and through August of this year.
In years past,” said Saunders, “we only served hot dinner meals indoors three days a week to those persons in need. With the response we have seen from our 2020 operations since mid-March, the sack meal program is reaching far more people than before and as such, consideration must be given to maintaining the program after we are able to serve hot meals indoors once again.”
Monthly increases this year are partly due to a gradual move to seven-day-a-week service, which we achieved in Augustthanks to the volunteer efforts from churches and community groups from all over the North Whidbey area. As meal service numbers increased, so did the number of volunteer hours.
Serving more guests – a 270% increase since March – requires many more volunteer hours. And of course more financial support.
SPiN isn’t finished yet with our growing efforts to serve the community. A return to evening meal service, and a reimagined day center during the approaching colder weather months, are on the horizon.
This will require a new influx of support from the community, both financially and in volunteer assistance.
Meanwhile, the numbers continue to bear it out: SPiN’s reach to serve the community is increasing, and the community, more and more, is giving back.
Thanks to another pledge of help from our community, this time from our neighbors at NAS Whidbey, we have expanded our sack meal program to include Sunday service.
Please see the bottom of this page for a map and service hours. Edit: since this post was published, our sack lunch service has moved. Please join us for sack meals at Hal Ramaley Memorial Park 256 Bayshore Drive in Oak Harbor (across street from the ball parks) Monday – Sunday at 12:15 PM-1:15 PM
SPiN now serves sack meals at Hal Ramaley Park in Oak Harbor, seven days a week. Just five months ago, our curbside, socially-distanced sack meal effort was a desperate, stopgap, three-day-a-week idea – a Point of Light, to coin a phrase from a former US President – in a cold winter as the pandemic hit town and our host churches were forced to close their doors. Now, at last, it’s a full-court, seven-day, ongoing effort to fight hunger in our town while we maintain the dignity of our guests.
SPiN Executive Director Tom Saunders says this final step began with an email from the Volunteer Coordinator for VAQ 209 at NAS Whidbey Island.
“She asked if there was anything they could do to assist SPiN Cafe as opposed to starting a food drive on their own,” says Saunders. “…within a week they verified that they would like to host Sunday meals for SPiN Cafe at the park! We are delighted to welcome them to our family of volunteers and are so grateful that our Sack Meal Program now serves people in need 7 days a week!”
Last month, Saunders says, operating 6 days a week, SPiN Cafe served over 750 meals.
“We couldn’t be more grateful for the outpouring of support for our program from our community, and we foresee this program continuing in the future.”
In related news, Saunders has been in discussions with SPiN’s church partners regarding dinner services commencing once again. Procedures are currently being drafted, he says, to meet guidelines set forth by the State and Church Diocese.
“There are several factors that need to be met in addition to the procedures which involve manpower planning. Due to the cleaning requirements, we anticipate a significant increase to our labor costs and to demands for volunteers. Our guests and all of those involved with SPiN Cafe are anxious to resume dinner services, but not before every precaution is taken to safeguard the health of our guests, staff and all volunteers.”
Thank you, Tom Saunders, for your efforts. And in these uncertain times, a huge thank you to the dedicated men and women from VAQ-209, the Star Warriors, for your service to our nation and to our local neighbors in need.
SPiN’s sack meal service now operates daily: at Hal Ramaley Memorial Park 256 Bayshore Drive in Oak Harbor (across street from the ball parks) Monday – Sunday at 12:15 PM-1:15 PM
There is no charge, but we are always grateful for donations.
Flintstone Park is at bottom right, on the corner of Dock Street and Bayshore Drive in Oak Harbor.
Thank you Safeway for your support of our Whidbey Island community.
In some good news amidst uncertain times, SPiN Cafe received grants last month that will go far in support of our service to the Whidbey Island community.
SPiN received $5,000 from the Safeway – Nourishing Neighbors Community Relief fund. We got this wonderful news on July 27 from Sara Osborne, Safeway’s Director of External Affairs.
Asked for a reaction, SPiN Executive Director Tom Saunders said the grant will help cover the additional overhead and meal costs brought about due to Covid-19. The grant is “very important to the survival of SPiN Cafe,” Saunders said, “as we have seen a decline in regular donations since March.”
To help in the interim, Island County has also chipped in with a $8,750 grant under the federal CARES Act for social service organizations affected by COVID-19. This was a huge help and was specifically allocated for groups like SPiN who have seen support decline in the pandemic.
“Given the totality of what everyone is facing,” says Saunders, “it is understandable that so many are being prudent with their finances just as we are at SPiN Cafe. We are very fortunate to have so many volunteers involved with making sandwiches and assembling the sack meals for distribution each week since March 17th.”
While volunteers make us successful and keep our costs down, there are still very real expenses in providing meals – now seven days a week, averaging nearly thirty a day – to our neighbors. Thank you to Safeway, and to the people of Island County, for your support.
Marguerite Butler is happy to talk – about herself, about her friends, about her hometown – but her gratitude is the first thing a stranger notices.
Marguerite “Peachie” Butler remains grateful through her struggles. Sonny Starks photo.
She’s grateful for SPiN Cafe, for the meals, for the companionship, for the times when she could get out of the cold at SPiN’s old location. She’s grateful for the Haven shelter, where she sleeps most nights. So grateful, in fact, that she’s the last to leave because she cleans the restroom every morning.
Most of all, she’s grateful for Compass Health in Coupeville, where she gets treatment for her struggles with bipolar disorder.
Butler grew up right here on North Whidbey Island. On a June day, she finishes a SPiN Cafe sack meal and saves a few bites in a ziplock bag – “for the squirrels.” With a smile, Butler relaxes on the grass by the restroom in Flintstone Park with her friend Jeanie. Jeanie grew up on Whidbey too, and at age 48 finds herself without a home. She spends nights at the Haven and days searching for a place to stay safe. She feels safe with her good friend Marguerite.
Butler glances at her buddy, and says they were two of the 24 guests at the Haven the night before.
“At least ten were women,” she says. “That’s important. It’s important that homeless women have a place to go.”
Marguerite has been living homeless since last fall, after retiring on disability from a career with the Postal Service. “I worked hard all my life. I started working for my dad’s business in Oak Harbor when I was eleven. I worked ever since. You think homeless people just need to get a job? I’ve had jobs and worked all that time, and here I am. Homeless.”
COVID has added tons of pressure. Asked if she’s on a list for housing, she says “they’re not even taking names! I can’t reach anybody, I don’t get called back. I spend so much time on the phone trying to get a place to live, my battery dies. And the pay phones around town are either gone or broken. And the library’s closed, so I can’t get on line to find resources that will get me off the street.”
Two Oak Harbor PD officers pull up to chat. One has known Marguerite for years.
“I’ve always wondered,” he asks her, grinning, “where’d you get that nickname?”
“What nickname?”
“Peachie. Why do people call you Peachie?”
Marguerite’s smile lights up her face. “Well, my daddy called me that when I was a little baby. I had peach fuzz all over my head.” The memory of a happy childhood on Whidbey Island has pulled her away from today’s struggles, just for a minute… thanks to a little friendly banter with a police officer.
Peachie wants to find housing in Everett. It’s close to Seattle, where she has friends. The bus service is more regular. She stands a better chance of getting a place to live there. But Compass Health is keeping her here for now. “They’re such good people over there. They make sure I’m staying healthy, and they’re good advocates for me.”
“I’ll always call Whidbey Island home,” she says. “This is where I’m from. And for the people who say homeless folks just show up from out of town, looking for a handout…” Peachie glances at Jeanie again, a defiant catch rising in her voice. “…this is our home. And we are so grateful to our neighbors for standing up for us and keeping us alive.”
Please take a moment to review our quarterly newsletter.
We, on the SPiN Board, have worked with our staff in the last couple months to adapt to the Covid 19 situation and to focus on what we have done since the beginning…feed folks in need.
Things change but some things do not change…What does not change is the need for people to eat. We, at SPiN, have worked to continue our feeding program and we have done that well.
A simple idea: A few dollars enables us to make one more sandwich for one more sack lunch to serve one more of our homeless neighbors.
Imagine you do not have a washer and dryer…Our laundry service has been able to serve those that do not. We are also connecting folks to a shower program. These are seemingly small things but become huge to those in need.
I commend our staff, volunteers, and board members who all reach out to serve our neighbors in need. I appreciate them and thank them for their service.
In an effort to keep SPiN supporters and friends up to date on what we are doing, please be sure we have your email address, and ask your friends to share theirs with us. You can easily do that by sending them to spincafeoh@gmail.com.
