Community food bank scores team of helpers

SANDPOINT — How much does a high school girls basketball team weigh?

Fourteen members of the Sandpoint High School varsity team found out Wednesday when they volunteered at the Bonner Community Food Bank, using the large scale the organization has in place for weighing bulk food.

As promised, however, the combined weight will not be published here.

"A team that weighs together, stays together," noted head coach Duane Ward, as the girls laughed and piled off of the scale.

The girls volunteered at the food bank after school on Wednesday, bundling food for the Backpack program, which provides food to children from low-income families throughout the Lake Pend Oreille School District. Several of the team members also got busy cleaning counters and shelves.

For SHS junior Lilly Anderson, stopping by the food bank to lend a hand was not a new experience. Anderson has volunteered there for two years now, mostly during the summer months.

Anderson said she got started volunteering at the food bank, in part, because her mom was a volunteer, and also as a high school requirement. Even after she had her required hours, she said she enjoyed it so much she decided to stay on as a volunteer.

"It feels nice to give back and help, and it's also nice to have something to do," Anderson said.

The 17-year-old also plays volleyball as her main sport — it's her first year in basketball, she said. She will keep volunteering at the food bank, she said, at least until she heads off to college.

"It's nice to see students who are committed to helping others," said Debbie Love, food bank executive director. "I appreciate that our school district supports the food bank in the ways that they do."

The Sandpoint food bank provides services to 900 area families, feeding more than 2,500 individuals each month. Just on Tuesday, Love said, the food bank provided food to 111 families. With numbers like those, Love said, there is not a lot of time to do the extra chores, so it is always appreciated when they get a helping hand — or 28 of them, for that matter.

SHS freshman and basketball player Hattie Larson is also no stranger to helping out at the food bank. Larson said she volunteered on Thanksgiving and was amazed by how many people in the community were in need of the food bank's services.

"It really opened my eyes," Larson said. "I got to see hundreds of people come through and we were just busy all the day, working and handing out food to everybody. It was really fun, actually, and it made me feel like I was giving back."

Ward said the parent group that supports the girls basketball team has been "outstanding" in getting the teens out into the community.

"And this group has been exceptional," he said of the girls on the team.

In addition to lending a hand at the food bank, the team hosted a food drive during their game Thursday night in which fans were asked to bring canned goods as donations. Also, earlier in the season, the team participated in a breast cancer awareness event. And last Saturday, Ward said, they held a free basketball clinic for all of the kids registered with the Sandpoint Parks and Recreation Department.

"That was another idea they had to give back to the community," Ward said. "They did an outstanding job."

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.