The Bainbridge Island-North Kitsap Interfaith Council recently set up tables with volunteers in front of several local grocery stores, collecting food and money donations for local organizations, which in total surpassed $40,000 and 2,000 pounds of food.

The food drive was a part of the council’s Everybody Eats Week, a series of events inspired by their annual CROP Dance to shine a light on hunger in the local community. In addition to the food drives, they hosted two major fundraising events: A High Tea at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church Sept. 24 and the annual CROP Dance at Eagle Harbor Church Sept. 28. These events were designed to highlight the problem of hunger in our community and to raise food and funds for three organizations: Helpline House on Bainbridge Island, Fishline Food Bank in Poulsbo, and Church World Service.

Kathryn Lafond, the co-chair of the interfaith council, said the main question they asked themselves about the CROP Dance was “how can we make this bigger?” Or, perhaps more importantly, how can they make the need more visible? So, with the help of many local volunteers, including chef Greg Atkinson, who provided food for the High Tea fundraiser, and an anonymous donor who gave a matching gift of $20,000, they created the events of Everybody Eats and raised more than $42,000 and more than 2,000 pounds of food.

The interfaith council’s efforts to fight hunger do not stop with this event. Lafond even stated that the goal of the Everybody Eats events was to make the need more visible as well as the ways to help. Many of the congregations that are part of the interfaith council take weekly food donations that go to local food banks, and the interfaith council hosts an event called Super Suppers on the last seven days of every month.