Gingerbread homes sold for food bank

MOSES LAKE — Chocolate and candy covered gingerbread houses garnered hundreds of dollars for the Moses Lake Food Bank Thursday.

Columbia Basin Job Corps culinary arts students crafted more than a dozen gingerbread houses for a Community Relations Council Luncheon auction. A total $631 was raised at the event.

By comparison, six gingerbread houses went for $345 last year.

Moses Lake Mayor Ron Covey bid $100 for the most popular house, a blue home with red licorice lining and a roof made with blue and silver-wrapped Hershey’s Kisses.

“I bought one because I have always wanted to eat a gingerbread house,” said Columbia Basin Herald managing editor Bill Stevenson.

Assistant Executive Director Peny Archer said the food bank is a distribution center for Adams, Grant and Lincoln counties, overseeing 11 food banks.

“As you know, the economy’s hitting us pretty hard,” Archer said.

She said the Moses Lake Food Bank experienced a drastic increase in client numbers in November, compared with the same time last year.

“We almost had a 26 percent increase here in Moses Lake alone,” she said.

“Thanks to the generosity of the community and our volunteers, we’re holding our own,” Archer added. “We’re actually in very decent shape, considering.”

Job corps student Yesenia Wyman said she made her gingerbread house quickly because she was working long hours and then she became ill.

“I just had like a day to do it,” Wyman said.

The sides of the house were covered with peppermint candy, the roof was decorated with red licorice, and the ground included marshmallows, gummy bears and gummy worms.

Student Justin Dewitt said the hardest part about making the gingerbread house was actually putting the house together.

One side of the roof was covered in strawberry and chocolate wafers, and the other side was covered in cookies.

“This was my first time (making a gingerbread house), and it was really fun,” Dewitt said.

After graduation, Dewitt is considering attending the Western Culinary Institute or the Kitchen Academy. If he doesn’t attend further training immediately after graduation, he wants to work at a resort or hotel.

“I want to own my own restaurant,” Dewitt said.

Student Stephanie Jackson said when she made her gingerbread house, she was thinking of a Western Washington Christmas. The ground is covered in crushed Oreo, with sprinkles of white on top and gummy worms traversing the terrain.

“I love how it came out,” Jackson said.

Moses Lake High School teacher Vicki Grisham bid on and won a gingerbread house with a chocolate roof and a yard made of peppermint candies.

Grisham said the home is a gift for her mom.

“Chocolate and peppermint are her two favorite foods,” Grisham said.