Hundreds of pounds of food and thousands of dollars were raised for the Marysville Community Food Bank as local Realtors gathered for their annual food drive.
The Snohomish County-Camano Association of Realtors Annual Food Drive is held each year for the local Marysville food bank.
“We get so many pounds of food each year it usually helps them for the whole year,” said Debbie Hendricks, a Realtor at the Marysville Windermere Real Estate office and the main organizer of this year’s food drive.
The Marysville office collects food and invites Realtors to lunch every Wednesday in the month of October, where they also hold a silent auction.
“Last year and this year has been tough because of the pandemic. People are still generous but it has been a challenge,” said Hendricks.
“Especially because we’ve haven’t had as many people in the office,” she added.
Last year they raised $15,000 and were at 800 pounds and about $10,000 as of Oct. 27.
“I think we’ll match last year’s total. We have a lot coming in at the end,” said Hendricks.
Other staff members at the office said they enjoyed participating in the food drive each year.
“It’s so amazing with this whole month, and around Christmas, the amount of give back,” said Windermere employee Shalley Lane.
The office organizes the event to give back to the community.
“I love it because it’s helping other people. We’re all very fortunate that we have food on our table every night and I just feel for the people that don’t,” said Hendricks.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only increased the need for help.
“There was a need already and then you put the pandemic on top of that,” said Hendricks.
“With COVID there’s a lot of people in need, so it’s nice for one month we can build up our morale and give back to the community,” said Windermere employee Darian Canteras.
Hendricks hopes that people will remember to give back to their local food banks throughout the year as well.
“There’s a big need in every community for this. We do this in October but the need is all year long,” she said.
“We all compete and do as much as we can this month but we need to donate food all year,” she said.
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