NEWS:
Capital Campaign Climbs to $918,000 Thanks to Recent Grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Glaser Foundation
The capital campaign thermometer in front of Good Cheer’s Food Bank and Item Donation Center in Bayview took a significant jump recently with the announcement of a $100,000 challenge grant from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and a $25,000 grant from The Glaser Foundation, bringing the total to $918,000 of our $1.4 million goal.
News of the grants came shortly after the death of Dick Collins, a well-known consultant in nonprofit fund-raising, who designed Good Cheer’s capital campaign.
“Dick was an amazing leader who fought a brave fight against cancer,” said Campaign Co-chairman Bob Olson. “He cared deeply about Good Cheer and wanted to see this campaign through to the end. Our team wants to complete this campaign as a tribute to Dick, as well of course, to enable the food bank to meet growing food needs on South Whidbey well into the future,” he said.
(Here is a link to Dick's contribution to nonprofit fundraising in the Pacific Northwest:) http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004412253_collinsobit14m.html
Phase One of the campaign involved the purchase and relocation of the food bank from its cramped quarters at the back of the charity’s Langley Thrift Store, to a stand-alone building (formerly the Masonic Lodge) in Bayview last October.
The move came just in time to help families deal with layoffs at Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, and though many workers were hired back, other South Whidbey families have taken their place and the number of clients keeps on growing. “With ever-higher fuel and food prices, more lower-income working families are feeling the squeeze and turning to the food bank for help,” said Kathy McLaughlin, Good Cheer’s Executive Director.
“We are currently serving about 18% of the South Whidbey community, and expect this number to increase,” she added. The food bank has also seen a 50% jump in its own food costs for the past two months.
Phase Two of the campaign is designed to help meet escalating costs through increased sales at Good Cheer’s main source of revenue, its Langley Thrift Store. It will be extensively renovated to create more retail space.
“Phase Two is vital because Good Cheer’s financial well-being rests on its thrift store sales. It really is a great model for self-sustainable revenue, not to mention its benefit to the environment by reselling still-useable clothing, furniture and appliances,” said McLaughlin.
The two recent grants join a list of others such as the Employees Community Fund of Boeing Puget Sound, the D.V. and Ida J. McEachern Charitable Trust, the Norcliffe Family Foundation, and the Bob and Carol Dickson Foundation. Additional grant proposals are under consideration.
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 2007Good Cheer provided food to 2,780 people, including 1,012 children. 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.
In 2007, 142 volunteers donated 13,632 hours of service, which if valued at $12 per hour, equates to $162,624. 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 places 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.
Phase 1(b) renovation and construction began June 1 on the food bank portion of the Bayview facility with a focus on the freezer/refrigeration wing addition.
Relocating the food bank to the Bayview building provided for a more central location and greater convenience to clients, plus much-needed additional warehouse storage.
The new freezer/refrigeration area, for instance, allows greater donation of frozen foods to be received. Space limitations at the Langley Food Bank did not always allow Good Cheer to take advantage of as much frozen foods as are available through Food Lifeline or Northwest Harvest, or even large community donations.
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 46-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.
Good Cheer Capital Fund Drive
PO Box 144
Langley, WA 98260
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