Every Sunday employees at the Mercer Island Albertsons and Mercer Island residents take donated food to the Union Gospel Mission in downtown Seattle. The store also donates to the Friends of the Needy and Hopelink, and helped feed approximately 800 during the holidays. - Contributed photo
Contributed photo
Every Sunday employees at the Mercer Island Albertsons and Mercer Island residents take donated food to the Union Gospel Mission in downtown Seattle. The store also donates to the Friends of the Needy and Hopelink, and helped feed approximately 800 during the holidays.

MI Albertsons donates food, time

By REPORTER STAFF
Mercer Island Reporter Staff
January 12, 2010 · Updated 1:00 PM 

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Every Sunday, Albertsons manager John Gillespie and several locals compile and deliver food donations to the Union Gospel Mission in Seattle. Items include dairy and bakery products, cheese and canned goods — dairy products are the only donated items that are not expired. Albertsons has been delivering food to the Union Gospel Mission since the summer of 2009. It also donates to Friends of the Needy and Hopelink. During the holidays, the store helped feed nearly 800 people at Hopelink, Gillespie said.

“We unfortunately have lots of products that go out of date, and it’s important that we try to feed people with them,” said Gillespie, who noted that the store has been donating food for as long as it has been on the Island.

According to Gillespie, a regular customer brought the Union Gospel Mission’s need for donated food to the store’s attention. “They asked us if we could help. It just happens that on the weekend, we don’t have a regular pick-up for any of the women’s shelters that we go to, so we said yes, we could help.”

Contact Mercer Island Reporter Staff Reporter Staff at editor@mi-reporter.com.

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