Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sun shines on the Proctor Art-a-Thon

Artist Andrea Greenfield with some of her creations
Many thanks to the Proctor Art Gallery and the Proctor Farmers' Market, who teamed up again to present the 3rd Annual Proctor Art-a-Thon at the Market on Saturday, July 23, all to benefit NW Tacoma FISH, located at Mason United Methodist Church, adjacent to the Market.
Special thanks to each of the artists who took part, donating their time all day, doing art demonstrations and creating works inspired by the Farmers' Market while they accepted donations and pledges for NW Tacoma FISH. The proceeds allow the food bank to purchase fresh produce from the Market.
From Proctor Art Gallery came Andrea Greenfield, Arvid Anderson, Bonnie Cargol, Emily Porter, Marquita Hunt, Sharon Crocetti, Tom Bona, Carolyn Burt and Gary LaTurner, along with friends Alexis St. John and Mary Wolfe. The event drew big crowds, drawn by the perfect weather.
Thanks also to Louise Andersen and Felicity Devlin from the Proctor Farmers’ Market for all of their sponsorship and hard work promoting the event.  
There were many highlights: Artists Mary and Bill Wolfe donated the wonderful Victorian style rocking horse which brought in over $100  by itself. And artist Mauricio Rubilino spent the day in the Kids’ Booth, creating two gorgeous mosaics with the children's participation. The mosaics will be displayed at the Proctor Arts Fest on Aug. 6. People will be invited to donate for a chance to win them.
Artists Bill & Mary Wolfe donated this wonderful Victorian rocking horse,
inviting donations for a chance to win the horse.

Celebrating the expansion of Southeast FISH

Pastor Peter reads the story of the loaves and fishes at the celebration
"We destroyed a perfectly good house . . . what were we thinking?" asked Pastor Peter Mohr of the volunteers, board and staff gathered at Southeast FISH yesterday.

The occasion was a celebration to mark the completion of a 1,000 sq. ft. addition to the food bank, providing badly needed food storage. In blessing the new space, Pastor Peter told the story of the house that now houses the food bank on his congregation's property. He spoke of all the other ways the space could have been used, and concluded, "Now it's only good for one thing . . . but that one thing is close to the heart of God."

New expansion at Southeast
It was only three years ago that we added 2,500 square feet of space to Southeast FISH. At that time this food bank was serving about 8,000 people each month. We couldn’t have foreseen then that the economy would take such a severe downturn and that we would outgrow that added space so quickly.

FISH director Beth Elliott with Jeff May (l)
and Jeff Stroud of Mountain Construction
Today Southeast FISH serves about 15,000 people each month. With such a dramatic increase in need, we had to find a way to maximize our available space, and so here we are celebrating the addition of another 1,000 square feet for food storage.

FISH executive director Beth Elliott and board president Dee Ebsen thanked the Thompson Foundation, which funded the expansion with a generous grant of $62,643, and Mountain Construction, which donated the framing labor, valued at $13,550. 

Volunteer coordinator Phil Membrere thanked the gathered volunteers, many of whom have been working at Southeast FISH for many years. Before this addition was started, volunteers were forced to move pallets of food outside every day just to make room in the food bank for serving clients and restocking shelves. At the end of the day they would move the pallets back inside. In inclement weather the pallets were covered with plastic tarps for protection. It was  inefficient and hazardous. Phil thanked the volunteers for their amazing dedication and patience throughout the construction process.