Samaritan holds turkey drive Nov. 15-17

MOSES LAKE - Samaritan Healthcare employees conduct their annual Turkey and Canned Food Drive Nov. 15-17. The goal is to collect at least 500 turkeys, which will be donated to the Moses Lake Food Bank for distribution.

Hospital employees will be at the Moses Lake Safeway, 601 South Pioneer Way, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. all three days, collecting donations of food and money. The donated food and food bought with donated money will be distributed to families in Moses Lake and Warden.

Hospital employees have been conducting a turkey and canned food drive since 2001, said Connie Opheikens, community relations coordinator for the hospital. About 60 employees participate, volunteering about 190 hours.

"When we started we were just asking for turkeys," Opheikens said. But not every shopper remembered the turkey until they had already gone through the checkout stand. "As they came out the door, if they didn't have a turkey they'd just hand us cash," she said.

Dave Campbell, director of the Samaritan Foundation, is in charge of the turkey drive. He recalled checking with the volunteers at the end of their shift back in the beginning, "and they'd pull a big wad of cash out of their pocket and say, 'What are we supposed to do with this?'" So the turkey drive became a cash-and-turkey drive, and over time it's expanded to a canned food drive also.

Volunteers fill grocery bags, which people can buy for $10 and donate. In 2011 the bags contained four cans of soup, four cans of vegetables, one can of broth and one box of stuffing, Campbell said.

In 2011 hospital employees collected and donated 407 bags of food, 284 turkeys and $8,130 to the food bank. "Samaritan, those guys rock," said Peny Archer, food bank operations manager.

"This is our way to give back to the community," Opheikens said.

That's how many of the people that donate apparently think of it, too. Campbell remembered the day an acquaintance came by and made a confession, the food bank got her family through a bad few months, and she wanted to express her gratitude. "She reached in her pocket, she pulled out a $100 bill and you could tell to her it was like a $10,000 bill," he said.

The food bank loves donations of food, of course, but money comes in handy too, Archer said. "It's a regular business, to tell you the truth," with expenses and building maintenance and all the monetary outgo that is part of a regular business. On top of that food bank employees and volunteers moved about 3.2 million pounds of food to the warehouse.

For that reason, donations are welcome no matter how they come. "We'll take it all," Archer said.

Rocky economic times mean the need has increased, Archer said. "That is not a Moses Lake problem, or a Washington problem," she said, but rather is nationwide. In Moses Lake "we see a lot of children and we see a lot of seniors," she said.

Residents of Moses Lake have stepped up, though. "We're very fortunate, the community is very supportive of taking care of our own," Archer said.