WPP 2020 Food Drive Collects 5,000+ Pounds of Food Donations for Nourish Pierce County & FISH Gig Harbor

During the November of 2020, our Windermere Professional Partners REALTORS® organized and collected food donations for Nourish Pierce County (for Tacoma and Puyallup) and Gig Harbor Peninsula FISH Food Bank and Community Services (for Gig Harbor). Nourish Pierce County has 23 active food bank distribution sites throughout Pierce County, and the need is greater than ever due to COVID-19. Many agents donated food alongside community members who made generous contributions to our efforts!

In total we were able to donate over 5,000 lbs. of food to our local food bank suppliers. Here are the grand totals from each of our Windermere Professional Partners offices:

North Pearl Office = 1,820 lbs.
South 19th Street Office = 1,371 lbs.
Gig Harbor = 810 lbs. (plus Team Robinson drive on Dec 1st brought in 4,500 items and over $7,200 in cash)
Puyallup = 800 lbs.

Here we will be shining the spotlight on the good work of our offices and agents—thank you again, everyone!

Big shoutout to REALTOR® Elizabeth Kashani O'Neal—she gathered over 1,000 pounds of food to donate!

Elizabeth custom made her own little flyers and attached them to bags letting people know about the food drive and dropped them off on doorsteps. “Asking for business is not my jam,” shares Elizabeth. “Asking everyone to take part in fundraising is something I can do with absolute pleasure! It feels good to do good. It was incredible to have our community step up and make such an incredible difference. I was so lucky to play a small part in that.”

When Elizbaeth was dropping off donations at Nourish, the gentleman helping her said “We were running low on supplies. Then these bags started coming... I recognize those flyers... and we started seeing the shelves fill up again.”

One of our Windermere Professional Partners offices is in Puyallup, just off of Highway 512 and Canyon Road. “We DOUBLED what we donated last year!!” shared REALTOR® Trish Stone. “Thanks to all the PTown peeps and peeps of our peeps that helped us smash last year's results!”

“It took us 3 SUVs to haul all of the bags (last year it was just one!),” shares Patty Golob, Owner and Manager at our Windermere Professional Partners Puyallup Office.

“We were super proud to be able to drop off that much food—especially right now during a pandemic,” adds Patty. “Because of COVID, Nourish Food Bank currently has members of the National Guard helping at the food bank with sorting, stocking, and delivering. People must make an appointment to pick up food and that they are pre-packing, instead of going into the warehouse to shop.”

“It’s quite an impressive operation – all run by volunteers!”

Thank you to REALTOR® Trish Stone, REALTOR® Mark Anderson, REALTOR® Josh Hummel, Manager/Owner Patty Golob, and everyone else at the Puyallup Office for your organization + donations!

“My wonderful neighbors were on board immediately wanting to help others especially during these difficult times!” shared REALTOR® Sharon Chambers-Gordon. “Some filled more than one bag and joyfully delivered them to my front porch! Helping to ensure no one goes to bed hungry. Thank you for caring and sharing!”

“Contributing to the food drive and involving my neighborhood, community and family is truly a joy!” says REALTOR® Lindsay Heidal. “I love the opportunity for serving in gratitude alongside my WPP colleagues.”

🥫🥪🍝🌽🍊 “Our 19th Street office had a small but mighty group!” shares Traci Frazier of Penrith Home Loans LLC. “Jason Helton led our group and had his husband, Chris help weigh the food. Branch Manager Jasmyn Jefferson, REALTOR® Jason Helton, Chris, REALTOR® Krissy Webber, Sheryl DeLeon, and myself worked like a well-oiled machine getting 1,371 lbs of food weighed and loaded in vehicles to bring over to Nourish Food Bank in Tacoma.”

“We were greeted by Steve at the food bank who was very welcoming and very grateful. The National Guard was there helping get the food loaded onto pallets. As we were unloading food, we also noticed many families driving through to pick up packaged food for their families. I love being part of the WPP community who all have the same goal of helping people.”

Thank you to REALTOR® Megan Gibson and REALTOR® Curtis Gibson and their family for their work collecting donations!

“Thanks to the generous food and cash donations of friends, family, & clients, we were able to donate 846 pounds of food to Nourish Pierce County. 846!” shares Megan.

“Curtis and I enlisted the help of the boys and dropped off 2 carloads filled to the brim to be sorted. We are grateful for this opportunity to help teach the boys how important it is to give back to our community. Let us know if you’d still like to participate and we’d be happy to stop by and pick up any non-perishable food items.”

Thank you to Team Robinson—at the beginning of December they held their 6th Annual Garage Food Drive and it was a record-breaking year for donations to support the Gig Harbor F.I.S.H. Food Bank.

“Each year it has grown, making this year the biggest ever with 4,500 items donated and over $7,200 in cash donations,” shares REALTOR® Michael Robinson.

Their 6th Annual Garage Food Drive was a little different this year—instead of hosting a festive open house-style event like they usually do, they hosted a drive-by food drive. On the big day, the team wore PPE to collect donations curbside. To prepare for the event the team knocked on doors throughout the entire surrounding neighborhood and delivered grocery bags + the event flyer attached to ~200 homes.

“The event each year has become a bright spot in the holiday season,” says Michael. “We have a wonderful time visiting with our friends, clients, neighbors, and family all day long while helping out with the important fight against hunger in our community. Food scarcity is incomprehensible to most of us and we have so much to be thankful for. This traditional event is hopefully something that will perpetuate for years to come!”

The event started back in 2015 when Michael’s garage was new and they wanted to share the finished space with their friends. “At the time, Chloe Robinson was in the National Honor Society and was seeking a community service project, so we simply combined the 2 ideas,” shares Michael Robinson. “Since then the cumulative collection of food totals over 18,000 items and $15,000 in direct cash donations.”

Thank you for supporting your community, Team Robinson!

Way to go everyone! Thank you for another successful event.