Thanksgiving food distribution begins
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Volunteers load fresh vegetables into the car of a customer at the Moses Lake Food Bank. The drive-through distribution was Monday.
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Tom Chaplin gives instructions to a volunteer. This was the last year on the job for Chaplin, organizer for the Thanksgiving drive-through distribution at the Moses Lake Food Bank.
MOSES LAKE — Tom Chaplin explained the jobs to the volunteers gathered to help distribute Thanksgiving food baskets at the Moses Lake Food Bank Monday morning. It’s a job Chaplin has done every year since 2000 – but 2018 was the last time.
Each year the food bank distributes Thanksgiving baskets on the three days leading up to Thanksgiving, and traditionally Monday is drive-through day. Food bank customers can pick up the elements that go into Thanksgiving dinner without getting out of the car. In 2018 that included potatoes, onions and apples, canned vegetables, eggs, bread and chickens.
Chaplin has been the guy that arranged for volunteers and made sure the distribution ran smoothly for almost two decades, but 2018 was his finale. Chaplin moved to Yakima last year, but he “drove back to keep this organized one more year,” he said. He’s a former food bank board member and board chair.
The volunteers come from all over Moses Lake. “We get volunteers from churches, different organizations, friends and family,” Chaplin said.
Some volunteers are new, but some come back year after year, Chaplin said. “We come from all walks of life. We’re almost family here, it seems like,” he said.
The drive-through has proven a popular option for people, and cars were waiting in line on Monday morning. “The first person was in line at 7:30 (a.m.),” said food bank director Peny Archer. There were times when the process wasn’t as smooth, Chaplin said – he remembered the year cars were backed up all the way to Michael’s on the Lake restaurant.
But the lines moved pretty quickly on a bright and sunny, if chilly, Monday morning. Volunteers handed out food, wished drivers a Happy Thanksgiving.
“It’s all from the community,” Archer said.
“It just takes a lot of volunteers to make this happen,” Chaplin agreed. “Total community effort.” It wouldn’t be possible without the support of the community, he said. Without donations, “we wouldn’t be doing this.”
Archer said Thanksgiving food and money donations will continue to be accepted right up until closing time on Wednesday.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.