Richland church helps raise $13,000 to support food bank

From Washington State-

Thanks to a Richland church, the Tri-City Food Bank's bare shelves will be able to fill up again.

"Food donations are down. Stores are being a lot more conservative in their purchasing, so there's not nearly as many dated items coming in as we've seen in the past," said John Neill, executive director of the Tri-City Food Bank.

That will change after today, when the congregation at All Saints' Episcopal Church in Richland will present him with a check for more than $13,000.

The money was raised as part of a project through the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, which stretches across Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Early this year, Bishop James Waggoner challenged the 41 congregations in the diocese to raise money for a specific charity dedicated to alleviating hunger in their area. The money would be split, half going to the charity of the congregation's choice, the other half going to a Honduran orphanage, El Hogar, an Episcopalian charity.

"El Hogar takes in 200 orphans a year, educates them and teaches them a trade so they have a vocation when they leave at 18," said Sindy Haffner, bookkeeper at All Saints'.

Read more:

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2011/07/24/1579134/richland-church-helps-raise-13000.html#ixzz1TCx4m2Xm