LAKEPORT >> When Jackie Hansen teared up Tuesday morning outside of her Grocery Outlet location in Lakeport, it was with joy as well as sadness. Jackie and her husband Jeff co-own the store, and for the past 13 years have organized the Independence from Hunger Food Drive to provide relief for those citizens of Lake County who struggle to stay fed. On Tuesday, the food and funding raised by the drive was being delivered to the hands of local food pantry volunteers.
As Jackie Hansen embraced volunteer Jean Mead, she admitted that the Mendocino Complex fires had made her past few weeks difficult. Hansen and Mead, along with many of the volunteers there on Tuesday, had been evacuated from their homes for days. Mead is a volunteer with the Lakeport United Christian Parish, which, along with Kelseyville Presbyterian Church, Upper Lake Christian Parish, and others, is the recipient of the donations collected by the Hansens’ food drive. Members and pastors of those churches, including Pastor Bob Green of ULCP and Steve Nesheim with KPC, were present Tuesday to help carry food to trucks.
Jackie Hansen said that during the whole time she and her husband were evacuated, “all I kept thinking about was, what if we lost our store?” There was no way for her to know, as Lakeport and its surrounding areas had been closed to entry. Somehow, the food drive still managed to raise $4,350 in food and dollar donations made at the store’s checkout lines. This, Jeff Hansen said, was due to community support. “It’s amazing with everything everyone is going through,” he said, “to see their support.” Both husband and wife stressed that credit for the food drive is not due to Grocery Outlet, but to the community members of Lake County who bought hundreds of $5 bags to give to those in need.
In fact, the line between those community members and the organizations involved in the drive, including the Lakeport Grocery Outlet and the local parishes and food pantries who distribute the donations, is blurred. The Independence from Hunger Food Drive, and the people who make it happen, are enmeshed in the population they are supporting.
And this is not the only form that the charity of local church groups has taken in recent years. Mead said Tuesday that during the Valley Fire in 2015, Lakeport United Christian Parish was open almost nonstop for three weeks, functioning as an emergency day center to hand out food, clothing and household goods to those who had been evacuated or lost their homes. Mead said that the parish had received donations from all over the state, and even out of California. “During fire times we expand our hours, and we get way more food. It’s much more of a community effort. We get people even who don’t go to our church that help out,” she said. Lakeport United Christian Parish and many other food pantries around the county collect donations year round, and in some cases, hold monthly or biweekly distribution days at their facilities.
