Photo by Karen S. Carter - The Peacekeeper Society Drive Thru Food Distribution shut down 3rd Street in Raymond on Saturday, December 12 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. while people collected much-needed food and supplies.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and caused the first lockdown in Washington, Bethany Barnard along with her husband Mark and Joe Basil got together to figure out how they could help by filling a need in the community. They ended up forming the Emergency Meal Program and were joined by many organizations and individuals from the community to make the program a success.
"Our community is small but our hearts are big and our goal is to help support our community," Stated Bethany in a Facebook post on November 12.
The goal was to deliver hot, homemade meals to people who were impacted by COVID. They started in March and with the help of the Raymond Elks #1292, the program's fiscal sponsor, they ended up serving 9,380 meals over the course of 6 months during the spring and summer.
"March 24 was our very first meal," said Bethany. "We started that morning with 78 individuals signed up and by the end of that day, we had delivered 103 meals. That's how much word was getting out."
"Initially, we did 20 weeks of meal delivery of hot, home-cooked meals," she continued. "We had delivery drivers delivering to homes of those in need of a meal, either families or individuals."
People who signed up for the program got a hold of Bethany or Joe by phone or through a message on Facebook. Because of confidentiality concerns the only information that was taken was the delivery address and how many people ate dinner at that address.
"During the break, when we weren't doing the meals, we gave them food vouchers so they could go to Pioneer and get any type of groceries that could support them," said Bethany. "We wanted to support Pioneer as Pioneer has been a great partner in providing relief [through EMP]."
Once the holiday season started, the EMP restarted to cover the three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. These once a week hot meals helped local families who have been struggling. Over 1842 meals were delivered each Wednesday.
"We did what we called the Holiday Edition," said Bethany. "We delivered the meals for the 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We wanted to give those families a break. We wanted to give folks a little bit of relief so it was more than just the meals. We gave stuff like cleaning supplies or hand sanitizer. There has always been just a little bit of something extra we would try to give."
The Peacekeeper Society Drive Thru Food Distribution happened on Saturday, December 12 and temporarily shut down 3rd street in Raymond for the afternoon and helped 1073 families. This event gave out $7500 in gift cards, $7500 in supplies and over 40,000 lbs of food.
This event was a joint effort put together by the Raymond Elks, EMP, the Peacekeeper Society (out of Yakima), Chinook Indian Nation, Shoalwater Bay Tribe, and local community members. For more information about the Peacekeeper Society can be found online at peacekeepersociety.com or on their Facebook page.
The program has raised $30k since March to help out with supplying the meals. The EMP has been run by volunteers who work tirelessly to provide the meal.
"We had so many sponsors," said Bethany. "We had so many generous folks. The folks in our community did probably 75% of the donations."
In a post from December 17 on her Facebook page, Bethany stated "We are blessed to have so many wonderful people sacrifice their time to make this program happen; our hands are up to cooks, organizers, to delivery drivers! Joe & Virginia Basil, Ron & Linda Brummel, Kathy Holland, Val Walker (Nick Brooks for letting us borrow her today as she was a lifesaver), Aimee Betrozoff, Chuck Gurr, Ruth Ann Redding, Holly Meyer, Jaime R. Souvenir & Madison Souvenir, Julie Miller-Gardner & Kyra Gardner, Kathryn Staats, Kristi Karchesy, Kate Languell, Liliana Ayala, Lisa Crites, Lyndsey Owen Klusman, Teresa Ariss, Nancy Kay Hasu, Nichole Page & Lainee, Ronda Ardell Rowe, Chadandshanna Coty, Shelia, Timmi Keeton-Ritzman & Papa Tim Keeton, Vail Ellingwood Stephens, Denise Rowlett, Toni Gwin and Team Cookie, and Valerie Zambas Rowe."
"This program is much bigger than me but I wanted to provide the reason why we are doing what we do," she wrote. "I was blessed with parents and grandparents that taught me the importance of giving back. Being raised in an indigenous community, I was also taught to give until it hurt and then give more (Ellene Nations, Tut'sullee). Our community has needs on so many levels, this was one way we could give back. I'm thankful to have so many wonderful friends in my life that would join in on this adventure."
Bethany gives updates on the EMP on her personal Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bethany.oszman. She also posts announcements for the program on community group Facebook pages like Raymond Buy, Sell, Trade, and Community Support and on the Raymond Elks.