Andrea Pinkerton has been unemployed and unable to put food on the table. She has been homeless and she has been hungry.
“I know what it is like to struggle, I’ve been there,” she said.
But these days Andrea Pinkerton serves as vice president for the Lewis County Farm Bureau, and says, “God has really blessed me.”
Saturday afternoon, Pinkerton worked alongside Washington Farm Bureau members from other member counties in freezing temperatures and biting wind outside the Grocery Outlet in Chehalis to celebrate the first annual “Food Check-Out Week” to be held in the state of Washington.
Vickie Malloy, WFB Women’s Leadership Committee chair, said the event was an effort to provide education about nutrition while conducting a food drive.
‘We want people to know we care about the animals, we care about the people. This is our life,” said Malloy, a cherry farmer in Chelan County. “There are so many misconceptions about farmers ... we want to educate people and let them know you can buy good food for less money.”
The WFB stood outside under the cover of a large tent and handed out recipes, nutrition informational brochures and talked with the Grocery Outlet customers as the hurried inside to shop.
“We want people to know they can still buy healthy foods on a budget,” Pinkerton said.
Pinkerton and Malloy contacted the owners of Grocery Outlet in Chehalis just two weeks ago to ask if they would consider holding the event at their store.
“And they’ve been promoting it from the very beginning,” said Malloy. “They’re the coolest people.”
Grocery Outlet owners Steve and Nelda Thornton stood at the end of the check-out counters Saturday afternoon, packing groceries into bags. A box of canned goods sat at the ready as each customer came through the lines; cashiers asked each one if they would like to donate a can of food to the Lewis County Food Coalition.
“Most of the people want to donate,” said cashier Marta Aguilar, Centralia. “About 90 percent of my customers donated yesterday.”
“We started a couple of days early,” said Nelda Thornton with an enthusiastic smile.
“I’m amazed at the people in this county and what they do for people who are hurting,” said Steve Thornton, “Even people that can’t afford it themselves, they still give.”
Store manager Renee Merrill said, “The customers have fun giving, and we have fun too.”
At the end of the event, Denny Gieger with the Lewis County Food Bank Coalition backed his trailer up to the door of the Grocery Outlet to load up the donations. Many of the local business, customers and the WFB also donated cash for the coalition to purchase food at Grocery Outlet.
As the trailer was loaded up with groceries to take back to the coalition food bank, a man emerged from the warmth of the store carrying a single bag of groceries. He approached Wisten Aldrich, owner of Aldrich Blueberry Farm in Mossyrock, who was manning the tables under the outdoor information tent.
“Does the money stay in Lewis County?” he asked.
“Oh yes, of course,” Wisten answered and he handed her folded currency.
As the man walked away, Wisten Aldrich unfolded the $50 bill and turned to The Chronicle reporter with an enormous smile, “Do you see how generous people are?”
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Kimberly Mason is a freelance writer based in Cinebar. She can be contacted at kz@tds.net.
