Food bank moving to fairgrounds

Helping Hand food bank coordinator Mary Dasher shows some of the food left to distribute to her clients before the organization moves to temporary housing in the T-Building at the county fairgrounds in Skamokawa.

The Helping Hand food bank located beneath the Cathlamet Seventh Day Adventist Church at 3 Fern Hill Road is moving September 27 to the T-Building at the fairgrounds in Skamokawa.

“We will be re-opening October 13, and we have lots of helpers,” coordinator Mary Dasher said Tuesday. “In fact we were just discussing where to get a truck to move our stuff over to the fairgrounds.”

Dasher said the food bank hours will remain the same from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Tuesday.

Helping Hand has distributed food from the basement of the Adventist church on Fern Hill Road for the past 15 years, and Dasher said she and the volunteers are working hard to clear out of the church’s basement.

Dasher remained silent when asked to explain why the church had asked Helping Hand to leave basement. “All I know is we were asked to leave,” said Dasher. “Legal stuff. I’m staying positive though, because I know God will show us the way."

The Cathlamet branch of Helping Hand, a limited liability corporation operated by Rick and Mary Dasher, distributes 8,500 pounds of food monthly to about 120 families. Most folks served by Helping Hand live in the Cathlamet area.

In a statement released to The Eagle early in September, Adventist church attorney Harold Feller said legal concerns prevent the church from continuing to house Helping Hand.

"Helping Hand doesn't have federal 501(c)3 tax exempt status," he said, "and there are liability and legal issues to resolve."

Members of the Wahkiakum Interfaith Network (WIN), a consortium of churches, have been working to find a permanent location for the food bank.

The Cathlamet Christian Fellowship on Puget Island has offered a cement slab now used as a basketball court for the site of a new building, and Pastor Randy Haas of Our Saviour's Lutheran Church said representatives of several churches are excited about mobilizing the community to work together to construct a permanent building for the food bank.

WIN operates a food bank of its own, and Haas said there is interest in combining the two if the various parties can create a legal, non-profit entity.