As a community, we have created something very special in Good Cheer Food Bank.

Good Cheer is more than a 46-year-old charity, more than our new Bayview facility, more than a model program, more than an earth-friendly recycling enterprise. Above all, Good Cheer is about providing hope, dignity and food to neighbors when they are in need.

Good Cheer is our wonderful volunteers and donors who give even when times are as tough as they are — one of our donors calls it “sowing into your need to reap blessings for others and yourself.” Good Cheer is about the

3,595 people who have come to Good Cheer Food Bank this year and received smiles and choices of food. Good Cheer is about putting food on the tables of 1,285 children.

As director, I am able to see first-hand how Good Cheer matters to people living on the margins on South Whidbey.

People like:

Sam, a father raising his son alone, is battling his second fight with cancer. He shared how he isn’t very hungry these days as he is going through chemo, but then went on to say how appreciative he was for the food bank being there for his 7-year-old son. He thanked us, saying that food is one less thing he has to worry about.

Lois, a woman in her 70s, shared that her food budget for the month was depleted because of an unexpected $500 prescription cost. For the first time in her life she had to utilize the services of the food bank. In the past she had always been a donor; now it was her time to receive.

Shirley, a recently divorced mother, shared that while going through a custody battle, no money was coming in for child support. Her children were not only feeling the sadness of the divorce, they were also feeling the physical pain of hunger.

In an essay titled “Being Hungry” (the winning local essay submitted during Hunger Awareness Month), the writer ends by stating that, “It (hunger) causes one to focus all one’s energy on where the next meal will come, and nightfall does not come fast enough.”

When I called the author to thank her for submitting such a moving piece, her comment back to me was “Good Cheer Food Bank and the way it is operated has allowed me to keep my dignity.”

It is such comments that inspire me and renew my faith and energy. That comment, more than any other, demonstrates Good Cheer’s role in providing food, not judgment.

As our name implies, we strive to make the food bank a place of “good cheer.”

News programs and newspapers are full of articles reporting that food bank shelves around the country are bare. We strive to keep our shelves stocked, though every day it is more difficult as both food prices and the number of families needing food increases. In October 2008 we served 708 families, a 147-percent increase over last year.

To put this in perspective, last year we ordered 600 turkeys for Thanksgiving and December holiday meals. This year we ordered 1,400 turkeys with the hopes that we will not run short.

This is just an example of the need for one item for two days of the year. Multiply that by the ongoing needs of the other 363 days of the year and you will see why your support this year is so critical.

More than ever, Good Cheer needs your help to continue in our fight to create a hunger-free community. Please help us to help others, by sending a generous tax-deductible year-end gift to PO Box 144 Langley, WA, or make a secure donation on our Web site, click here.

Thank you for your compassion. May you have a joyous holiday and a happy new year!

Kathy McLaughlin is executive director of the Good Cheer Food Bank.