When Times Get Tough, Hopelink Gets Going -- 40 Years of Serving People

WHEN CHUCK EBERHART and his friends started a job clinic in 1969 to help his fellow out-of-work Boeing employees find jobs, who would have guessed he was setting in motion a wave of support that would be crucial to thousands of residents more than 40 years later?

That wave of support, today known throughout our region as the organization called , serves 1,000 people in Kirkland and around the Eastside every day through its five food banks – not to mention its numerous other programs. And with the current economy and slow job market, it is providing a safety net to Kirkland residents who never imagined they would be in a position to need help.

“People are coming in who have never needed help before,” said Teresa Andrade, center manager of Hopelink’s Kirkland location. “We have a number of clients who used to donate and help and now they’re on the other side. We have a whole new wave of people who are kind of lost asking for help. People don’t want our services. We have people walk in all the time and ask if we have any jobs. They don’t want to have to ask for help. They want to be working.”

Andrade recalls a man in a suit who came to her office earlier this year. “I thought he was a donor,” she said. However, once they were sitting in her office, he confided that he needed food for his family but didn’t feel comfortable going to the food bank because he didn’t want volunteers who he might know to see him.

“People want to hide it,” she said. “They might be living in their house, driving their car but they’ve had a cut in resources and where they’re having to adjust their spending is on food and medical care – all the things we take for granted.”

Many Hopelink clients have a job or even two. However, according to Andrade, that’s often not enough to support a family. “When you’re involved here, you get a whole new perspective,” she said. “A lot of people say ‘just get a job – get any job.’ But if you have a family around here, who can do it on $800 or $900 a month? You just can’t do it on minimum wage… and a lot of those jobs don’t offer medical benefits, either.”

The organization, which has evolved significantly since Eberhart and his team got started, is focused on helping people achieve self-sufficiency. “We meet emergency needs when they happen,” said Hopelink PR Specialist Kris Betker. “But then we sit down to think about how we can get you back to where you want to be, how to help you get back on your path. The thing I like about Hopelink is that it’s not a temporary handout, it’s a commitment to helping.”

Hopelink’s team of case managers works with clients to determine what services they need in the short-term to take care of their family, while identifying their longer-term needs to help them get on their feet again. Services range from housing and energy assistance to literacy programs, GED training, job interview preparation, transportation services and much more.

THE ORGANIZATION'S service area spans 800 square miles in North and East King County and includes five locations, each offering a food bank for families that qualify. The facility in Kirkland, located at 11011 120th Ave. NE, is one of the newest and largest facilities.

“In Kirkland we are fortunate to have both the adult education and emergency services under one roof. Clients can get food, energy assistance, rent or other financial assistance, integrated services for family development, employment services, whatever they need in one trip. Once they make it here, they have full access,” said Andrade.

The food bank is modeled after a regular grocery store and it is open 25 hours a week. Clients are allowed to come in twice a month and are either assigned to come the first and third weeks or the second and forth. Unlike with traditional food banks where they must come at a specific time and must rush through the process of picking up their allocation of food, Kirkland clients may come any time during the open hours of their assigned week. And while they are only allowed to select a limited number of items each visit, they may take all the time they need – reading labels or comparing their choices – just like they might at a regular store. This not only lends a sense of independence to the process, but if clients bring their kids, the experience feels just like shopping at a grocery store like their friends do.

“We would like to expand that model to other centers,” said Andrade, who noted that , “but we don’t have the volume of food to do that everywhere.”

Eighty percent of food at the food bank is donated and Hopelink buys the remaining 20 percent wholesale to fill in the gaps. Andrade says shelf-stable items are their greatest need since they receive donations of perishable items from stores. They also look for fresh produce. “We have generous people who grow things to donate,” said Andrade. “We have a campaign called “plant a row” where people plant a row specifically for the food bank–or churches or groups will plant a garden for us.”

In addition to food donations, Kirkland’s food bank relies on the support of more than 250 volunteers who give their time to pick up and sort donations, stock shelves, clean up, check people out and more. Additional volunteers help in other areas from tutoring to organizing special events.

“I’m always so impressed with the number and caliber of volunteers,” said Andrade. “I always think ‘wow, they’re making it a part of their life.’ We couldn’t do it without them.”

US Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

The thoughtful effort started by Eberhart and his friends more than 40 years ago is a living example of the power of each of us to make a difference.

Hopelink will celebrate its 40 years with an . For more information about Hopelink services and ways you can help them support members of our community who are in need, go to www.hope-link.org.