MONROE – It all started with a woman taking leftovers home.
Thanksgiving Day was nearing in 1976. In Monroe, Julia Morris was trying to turn her life around by using her faith to fight alcoholism, recalled her daughter, Julie Morris.
The mother volunteered on a whim to put together Thanksgiving baskets with others, the daughter said. Julia Morris took leftovers home and started handing them out to people in her apartment building.
Julia Morris also gave away her own food – beans, rice and oats – from her backdoor. People started helping her out.
The backdoor operation started the Sky Valley Food Bank. Julia Morris knew that helping others helped her, but she didn’t know the food bank would continue for 30 years, her daughter said.
“She just had a heart of gold. She gave and gave to whoever was needy,” Julie Morris said of her mother.
As part of the 30-year anniversary, the food bank will present awards to longtime volunteers and supporters, including a church and schools, on Thursday at an event hosted by the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, Julie Morris said.
She became the food bank’s executive director after her mother died of cancer in 1999.
In the fall, the food bank plans an open house on its anniversary, she added.
Over the years, the food bank’s operation moved from Julia Morris’ apartment to a church and other places before the city of Monroe built a permanent building for the organization at 784 Village Way, the daughter said. The city owns the property and the building.
Her mother has left lessons and a legacy for her to follow, Julie Morris said.
“To remember not to dwell on your problems,” she said of one the lessons.
The food bank now has 60 regular volunteers and hands out 30,000 meals a month on average, Morris said.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
Food bank donations
The Sky Valley Food Bank opens 9-11:30 a.m. and 6-7 p.m. on Mondays and 9-11:30 a.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays at 784 Village Way.
Donations can be made to the food bank at P.O. Box 724, Monroe, WA 98272. For more information, call 360-794-7959.
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