Phase One is Completed -- Now On To Phase Two!

Former Good Cheer Board President Laura Price, with several Board members looking on, did the honors of burning the bank bridge loan papers on Good Cheer's Bayview site on September 12 at Good Cheer's Harvest Party & Music Fest. The gesture symbolized the completion of Phase I of Good Cheer's two-phased capital campaign. Good Cheer now owns the Bayview facility and its improvements free and clear.

Phase I involved the purchase of the former Masonic Lodge and property in Bayview, plus making renovations and constructing the addition of a freezer/refrigerator wing.

Phase II involves opening up the second floor of Good Cheer's main operational funding source: Good Cheer Langley Thrift Store by adding an elevator and staircase, plus adding additional first floor space, and renovations.

The additional square footage could well mean an additional $50,000 a year in revenues -- money to help fund the operational aspect of the Food Bank. The capital campaign is currently at $1,148,00 -- 82% towards its $1.4 million goal.

Please help us complete the campaign. Capital Campaign donations can be mailed to Good Cheer Capital Campaign / PO Box 144 / Langley / WA 98260.

About Good Cheer's Capital Campaign

Good Cheer's Mission: Good Cheer Food Bank’s mission is to create a hunger-free community on South Whidbey. It has helped South Whidbey residents in need since its inception in 1962.

Who Is Served: In 2007 Good Cheer provided food to 2,780 people. In 2008, this number jumped to 4,044, and in 2009, client numbers were once again up: 5,046 people accessed supplemental food through the Food Bank at least once during the year. In December of 2009, 830 households came to the Food Bank. Clients include the unemployed, single mothers, seniors, the chronically ill, the physically and mentally disabled, displaced homemakers, homeless teens and families, and increasingly, the working poor.

Due to the high cost of living on South Whidbey, Good Cheer assists many families where either one or both parents are employed, -- the working poor. According to the U.S. 2000 census, in Freeland alone, about 10% of families and 12% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.9% of those under age 18 and 6% of those age 65 or over. Many clients only access the Food Bank for a short time while others rely on it year round.

Why Good Cheer Is Unique: Good Cheer has for decades has operated differently than other food banks. It conducts itself as an enterprise “company” using a community thrift store as its source of operational funding rather than relying on governmental grants/programs and general fundraising for financial stability.

Good Cheer is a self-sustaining nonprofit charity through the successful operation of its two thrift stores. These stores recycle a high-volume of still-usable donated goods while providing low-cost clothing, furniture, and housewares to low-income families.

Also, unlike many other food banks in the state, Good Cheer Food Bank is open at least seven hours a day, six days a week and even provides home delivery to house-bound seniors and the disabled.

A search for other similar programs has not turned up a comparable self-sustaining food bank operation in terms of scale and hours of operation in western Washington. Good Cheer is the only food bank for the south end of Whidbey Island.

This successful and replicable funding approach has caught the interest of other food banks in the Northwest. With the improvement of facilities, Good Cheer will offer information to other organizations interested in this model of client services and operational sustainability.

Good Cheer provides an important non-duplicated service to the community, without relying on federal, state or even county tax monies to support it.

Volunteers Are The Backbone: Good Cheer enjoys wide community support. Over the years, hundreds of local residents have served on the 15-member volunteer Board of Directors, with many times that number serving as volunteers in the thrift store and the food bank.

Good Cheer currently has more than 470 local residents signed up as volunteers. For working people, especially those commuting off island, Good Cheer offers a Tuesday evening “work party” from 5 to 8 p.m. which has become very popular.

Church groups and service organizations also sign up for evening work parties. People of all ages, from local daycare students, to middle and high school students -- all the way up to 90-year-old+ volunteers (currently there are five) volunteer at Good Cheer on a regular basis.

Needs Statement: South Whidbey is growing in population, yet the annual average wage in Island County is lower than many parts of Washington state.

Costs for housing and general costs of living are increasing, which placed greater demand on Good Cheer at a time when its facility in Langley, built in the 1930’s, was showing its age. Food Bank storage space was maxed out, and the retail area had no room to expand since the building also doubled as Good Cheer’s donation receiving, storage and prep facility.

Parking was difficult to find, and food bank clients had little anonymity as they rolled their food carts through the thrift store and out the front door to their car or to the bus stop.

The retail area, which provides the financial foundation of all Good Cheer community services and the food bansk, was hemmed in due to the space required for item donation intake, processing, and sorting areas.

Action needed to be taken to position Good Cheer to remain sustainable for the future.

A Plan to Position Good Cheer for Decades to Come

After considering all their options, the Good Cheer Board decided, in October 2004 that the best concept was to re-locate the Food Bank to a new site, and the building committee began actively looking for space and considering building options.

In addition, building schemes were done for remodeling the Thrift Store building in Langley with attention to better “retail” usage and bringing the old building into code compliance and ADA access for customers, clients, staff and other visitors with the addition of an elevator.

During early 2006 studies were conducted on fundraising, building designs and detailed space use plans. After a one-acre site was purchased in Bayview, unexpectedly, the Masons organization approached the Good Cheer Board with an offer to sell their 14-year-old building just two properties away. It was an offer too good to pass up. The first property was sold to another party, at a profit for Good Cheer, and the 4.18 acre piece and the 3,986 square foot facility was purchased.

The former Masonic facility was easily adaptable to Good Cheer needs and required only minor modifications to make it usable not only as a food bank but also as a thrift store “receiving and sorting” workshop.

Moving this workshop from Langley to Bayview has already enhanced the operations of the Langley retail facility, thereby increasing potential Good Cheer earnings for more food purchases and services to those in need of assistance.

With the advent of this new “nearly ready to go” building, the project was moved quickly forward. Phase 1(a) renovation began April 3, 2007. The workshop area was completed June 1, 2007, and at that time all donated items to be sorted and prepared for sale were transferred from the Langley Thrift Store. Volunteers were instrumental in making this a smooth transition. Volume of donated goods received and process has already increased.

Now that the the Food Bank has been relocated to the Bayview site, preparations and permits will be generated to carry out the second important phase of the campaign: renovating and expanding the retail areas of Langley Thrift Store and bringing it into compliance with building and ADA code with the installation of an elevator.

Renovation will also allow more efficient moving of retail goods to the new second floor retail spaces. The more items that are sold, the greater the amount of funds for food purchases.

The second phase of the Capital Fund Drive provides for renovation of the Langley Thrift Store, which is a major funding source for Good Cheer.
An elevator will allow access for disabled and elderly customers and volunteers.
Retail space will be increased, leading to increased revenues through sales.
New merchandise departments will be added and existing ones expanded.

This first-ever capital campaign will position the 47-year-old community charity to continue fulfilling its mission, and even serve as a replicable model for other community food banks in the state and region.

Measuring Success
The progress of both the food bank and thrift stores is closely monitored on a monthly basis by Good Cheer’s Board of Directors who look at financials, numbers of clients served, and receive reports from the executive director on food bank and thrift store operations.

The Capital Campaign will be measured a success in terms of increased numbers of people served with an increase in the amount of food provided; increased sales at the thrift stores for continued support of the Food Bank; innovative new programs; greater food choices for clients; continued partnering with local agencies, schools, service organizations and churches; and an increase in the number of volunteers.

Raising $1.4 million will take the participation of individuals, organizations, businesses and foundations at a variety of gift levels.

For information about making a pledge, building naming opportunities, and gifts of stock or property, contact Kathy McLaughlin at Good Cheer at (360) 221-6454, ext. 6.
Good Cheer Capital Fund Drive
PO Box 144
Langley, WA 98260

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