It’s a busy day in the kitchen of the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank. Cooks and volunteers are serving soups and sandwiches for lunch. Tables in its diner are quickly filling up.
This is typical around the holiday season. The food bank sees an uptick in clients eating in the diner and served in the warehouse, where donated food is stored. The number of volunteers working also increases.
“All of these food donations and volunteers are really needed,” said Claire Jones, office manager at the food bank. “The food bank in the last few years – we’re just continuing to see struggles, even since the pandemic.”
Based in Soldotna, the food bank serves over 40 communities around the Kenai Peninsula, including those across the Cook Inlet. And around the holidays, staff are doing more to meet the need.
Before Thanksgiving, the food bank bought over 1,000 frozen turkeys with money from a fundraiser. Jones also says community partners hold more food drives for the food bank around the holiday season.
“It’s nice to feel like we’re making a difference, and that everyone else can help us to make that difference,” Jones said.
But the food bank isn’t the only nonprofit on the Kenai Peninsula that sees an uptick in clients around the holidays.
Love INC is a clearinghouse organization that helps people based on their needs. They offer rent assistance, food assistance, free clothing and several other services. The organization also offers holiday food boxes and Christmas toys for children.
“Normal time, non-holiday season, I probably have like seven to 10 people a day come in that I help,” said Laine Povelite, clearinghouse coordinator of Love INC. “During the Christmas season, it probably goes up to 30 people a day.”
But Povelite says the holidays aren’t the only reason the organization sees an increase in clients this time of year. She says seasonal workers are typically unemployed in the winter, and need help making ends meet. It’s also colder outside, which raises home heating bills.
Love INC also operates the Nikiski Shelter of Hope for unhoused people. Povelite says this time of year, it’s typically full.
“There’s places that don’t have a resource like this, and I’m able to see the good that we do for a lot of people,” Povelite said. “I think we make a pretty positive difference in a lot of family’s day-to-day lives.”
Back at the food bank’s diner, it’s nearly a full house. Friends, strangers and volunteers mingle over lunch. Christmas music is playing in the background.
Office manager Jones says feeding those in need is a small part of a larger goal for the food bank during the holiday season. Spreading holiday cheer with people who may be struggling is almost as important.
“Just spending time with people in the community, even if it’s not their family. It’s nice to feel that togetherness around the holidays, so that nobody feels left out. It’s nice to think that the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank can provide that,” Jones said.
The food bank diner serves a traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas meal around the holidays. Jones says it’s popular among their clients.
