There are food banks in Langley and in Oak Harbor to help islanders in need on South Whidbey or the north end.

But until recently, low-income and elderly residents of the Greenbank and Coupeville areas found there was no place nearby to get the foods and other sustaining items they needed.

Gifts from the Heart, the new Central Whidbey Food Bank, has stepped in to fill the void. Formed just three months ago by an all volunteer group of people, it is already getting help in gathering donations.

In its first month, February, Coupeville Elementary School took on the task of collecting donations for the food bank. Children and families brought in more than 2,000 non-perishable food items, said Vivian Rusinko, acting president of Gifts from the Heart.

In March, the Boy Scouts of America collected donations as part of their annual Scouting for Food effort throughout the United States. Taking part for the Central Whidbey Food Bank were scouts from Coupeville Troop 58 and Troop 53 from Greenbank. Whidbey General Hospital employees are running a food drive during April.

Gifts from the Heart would not be able to gather so many donations without the help of these outside groups, Rusinko said.

The group had expected it to take a year for the Gifts from the Heart food bank to get off the ground and run independently, but the community made it possible in only three months, from inception to operation.

“The reason it works is because it’s an entirely voluntary organization and entirely community-based,” Rusinko said. “All individuals are needed for its success. We’ve received a ton of community support.”

Gifts from the Heart distributes food twice a month, on the second and fourth Wednesday, at the Greenbank Progressive Club and at Service Alternatives in Coupeville.

The food bank makes it as easy as possible for people to pick up a supply of food.

“They just need to come in on one of our distribution days,” Rusinko said. This month these are April 10 and 24. The recipients will be asked just a minimal number of questions.

While a Central Whidbey food bank is not new, Gifts from the Heart formed this year to fill the gap left when the former Coupeville food bank, run by area churches, had to close its doors after the church where it was housed moved farther from town. Good Cheer on South Whidbey and North Whidbey Help House were ready and eager to help Central Whidbey families and seniors in need, Rusinko said, but many of these found it difficult to get to Langley or Oak Harbor.

So Rusinko and others with the Readiness To Learn Community Team put together the new food bank. RTL is a program funded by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to help keep children’s lives in order so they come to school “ready to learn.”

There are several hundred families and seniors in the area who could use the support of a local food bank, Rusinko said.

“In the Coupeville School District alone, there are about 230 families on free and reduced price lunch,” Rusinko said. This means those families are somewhere around or below the poverty level. Central Whidbey also has a significant number of seniors who receive only monthly Social Security checks to support themselves.

Brenda Thorn, manager of the Good Cheer Food Bank, says the South Whidbey agency has been supportive of the new food bank.

“We have a notice posted at Good Cheer, letting our clients know about the Greenbank distribution,” Thorn said. Since Gifts from the Heart is a supplemental food bank, however, Good Cheer clients are still welcome to continue coming to Langley as well as going to Greenbank.

Gifts from the Heart stores its supplies at the Greenbank Farm, which donates the space.

“They’ve been wonderful,” Rusinko said.

Gifts from the Heart is also searching, however, for a storage location in Coupeville, preferably on Main Street for easy access via Island Transit buses.

Island Living Editor Joan Soltys contributed to this story.