I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Auburn community for its generous and continuous support of our annual All-City Schools Food Drive.

The fourth annual drive netted more than 65,000 pounds of food and more than $7,000 in cash donations.

Never has the need for feeding the hungry been greater in Auburn as this year. The food bank has seen an increase of over 1,000 new families needing help. This drive goes a long way in helping the food bank meet those needs.

There are people I wish to thank because without their help and support, this drive would be impossible. From the Auburn School District, a big thanks to Linda Cowan, Steve Christiansen, John Lobdell and Kye Hillig. A big thanks also to all of the school principals, administrative staff, school contacts and students.

Behind the scenes of the drive are all of the local restaurants that donated lunches to the classroom in each school that brought in the most food. They are Donimo’s Pizza, Top Foods Deli (north Auburn and Lakeland Hills), Godfather’s Pizza, 15th NE Dairy Queen, Frugals, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Pacific Jack in the Box, The Rock, Arby’s, Subway, PaPa John’s Pizza, Café Pacific, McDonald’s south and The Pit.

Another big thanks goes to Fred Poe/Poe Construction for providing warehouse space to store all the donations and to Northwest Family Church for providing sorting space.

The drive isn’t over when the food stops coming in. It all has to be sorted and be put in a usable form. Many community members and organizations stepped up to help with the work. Huge thanks to Biker Church from Wabash Presbyterian Church, Crimson Bridge Missions group from NW Family Church, men’s group from NW Family Church, Green River College international students, Real Life Missions from Federal Way, Kiwanis Club of the Valley, Pacific Food Bank Youth, Junior Optimist Club, Key Club and Builders Club.

Again, grateful thanks to everyone involved in the 2008 food drive. I am proud to be a member of the kind of community that steps up when the need arises.

– Jeani Rottle,

Food drive Coordinator