North Whidbey Help House, HomeConnection, help out for Thanksgiving

As of Friday, North Whidbey Help House had handed out around 360 Thanksgiving baskets.

By Michelle Beahm • November 24, 2014 6:29 pm
Petty Officer First Class Clayton Steckel hands Petty Officer First Class Jeffrey Arrowsmith a box of frozen turkeys as volunteers work to unload 320 frozen turkeys into the freezer at North Whidbey Help House.
Petty Officer First Class Clayton Steckel hands Petty Officer First Class Jeffrey Arrowsmith a box of frozen turkeys as volunteers work to unload 320 frozen turkeys into the freezer at North Whidbey Help House.

As of Friday, Nov. 21, North Whidbey Help House had handed out around 360 Thanksgiving baskets.

A tradition dating back to the 1970s, Help House staff and volunteers gather to fill hundreds of baskets with all the fixings for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, including turkey, dressing and potatoes.

“I refer to this as our fat, dumb and happy time,” said Jean Wieman, executive director of the Help House, “because everybody remembers us.”

Service members from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station help to assemble baskets, hand them out and even carry them to cars if the recipients need help.

“We couldn’t do it without them,” Wieman said.

“We’ve had to before, and it’s not fun.”

Registration for baskets was done during the first two weeks of November. Later requests are placed on a waiting list.

“They’ll still get a basket, but it’ll be after the people who signed up during those two weeks,” Wieman said. “We’ve never not had baskets to give out to people that came in and asked for them.”

Help House isn’t the only group handing out baskets for holiday meals this Thanksgiving.

At HomeConnection, Thanksgiving meal baskets are donated to two families who might need a little extra help.

“The holidays are hard on some families,” said Amber Wolfkill, who is helping to organize this year’s donations. “Some families might be just behind.”

HomeConnection is a parent-partnership program for families who are homeschooling their children; it provides families with connections to the school district and helps develop learning plans.

Wolfkill, a home school parent, started helping with Thanksgiving basket donations last year.

“It’s just a way of helping other families in our community here that need a hand up,” she said.

“We make sure that they have a good Thanksgiving dinner.”

HomeConnection has a bulletin board with decorative turkeys pinned up, explained Randy Mouw, principal of the organization. Written in the tail feathers are different foods that people can donate.

The recipients remain anonymous to those who donated food.