Thank you to IGA and Thriftway
Vashon Market IGA and Vashon Thriftway do so much to assist the Vashon Food Bank — I’d like to take a moment to publicly thank them after a dramatic food rescue operation in mid-December.
It went down on Wednesday evening; as a food bank staff-member prepared to close down our shopping service for the day, he noticed that the outdoor walk-in freezer wasn’t at its proper temperature. (The same freezer failed on a weekend day last summer, causing the loss of over two thousand pounds of food.) This time we were fortunate to notice right away that the freezer had stopped functioning.
With exactly zero seconds of hesitation, IGA was ready and willing to provide space in their freezer. But, as it turned out, the amount of food that needed saving would have taken every inch of space available. Shout out to Travis, the night manager, for being ready and willing to help!
A call to the manager at Thriftway was met with another affirmative. Yes! They had the space available to hold our product. With another stroke of good fortune, the last shift of food bank volunteers were still on-site, and they quickly loaded the freezer’s contents into our truck and cargo van.
Thriftway’s staff (and their forklift), moved the cases of food up onto their loading dock and into their cold storage. They were out there in the cold rain, working against the clock to make sure we kept the food safely out of the temperature danger zone. Talk about dramatic! Big thanks to Tanner and the back-of-house crew for making it happen with the swiftness.
The food bank regularly receives donations and financial contributions from these two prominent local businesses, but on this occasion they made a huge difference for the food bank just by saying “Yes, we can help you out.”
If you’re fortunate enough to have a friend that has your back when things go sideways, you know exactly how I felt about IGA and Thriftway at the end of that night.
Duncan Goulding, Vashon Food Bank Operations Manager
A mighty celebration
I propose a mighty celebration of all that is good in our beautiful nation.
Think of the following as a wish-list for a parade on July 4th, 2026. If not then — recognizing that the Strawberry Festival is just two weeks afterwards — perhaps made a part of the festival, or the focus thereof. But undoubtedly, the best thing would be a parade on the day itself.
It could begin with Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty marching along with a large American flag carried on a pole between them. Behind them, a group of the Indians/First Nations folks who were here before us.
Then an honor guard leading veterans, and behind them a marching band.
After the band, the Parade of Nations, led by a couple dressed in 1700s period costume carrying a banner emblazoned with “E Pluribus Unum.” Following them, island residents bedecked with small flags of the nations their ancestors came from – Dutch, Irish, Scots, French, Mexican, Polish, German, and so on.
We could have an old-timey, bluegrass band on a truck, another with a jazz/big band, yet another with rock and roll — all three genres originating from and distilled on our shores.
And all the other manifestations of our American-ness present here. And why stop at a parade? Drama Dock, Vashon Repertory Theatre, Open Space — break out the costumes, get some of your wonderfully talented folks to create mini-plays, say, Adams and Jefferson conversing, or Abigail and John Adams doing the same and arguing points about the Constitution. Hamilton pressing his case for a national bank to James Madison. Somebody as Lincoln delivering his speeches — the possibilities are rich and numerous. Most of us on these islands will not be around for the 300th birthday. Let’s celebrate this wonder called our Republic while we can.
Michael Shook
