Press Release—Boating Singles Show They Care About the Hungry

Members of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club—where singles boat for free—will demonstrate at their weekly meeting Monday night that their generosity extends beyond just friends and fellow boaters. The club will present a check for $10,500 to Northwest Harvest, the only non-profit food bank distributor operating statewide in Washington with a network of over 325 food banks, meal programs and high-need schools. The cash donation is in addition to a donation of more than 2,000 pounds of food already made to Northwest Harvest by Seattle Singles. Club members and others donated the cash and the canned goods as part of the club’s annual Northwest Harvest benefit sailboat race and auction in September.

Kim Nelson, Director of Donor Relations for Northwest Harvest said the timing of this gift could not be better, and admits she is nervous about raising the funds needed for the rest of the year. For the first time in 11 years, donations to Northwest Harvest are down to a new low, which makes her appreciate the special partnership with Seattle Singles Yacht Club all the more. This donation equates to nearly 50,000 meals for our neighbors in need. Kim will be on hand at the meeting Monday, Dec. 5, to receive the check. The club meets most Mondays at 7:30 p.m. in the upstairs meeting room at China Harbor restaurant, 2040 Westlake Ave. N., Seattle.

SSYC Commodore Lee Stenson had this comment: “We’re a fun group who have a great time boating and socializing year-round, and those are good things. But the Northwest Harvest benefit sailboat race and auction represent the opportunity we have each year to give something of importance back to the community.

“That’s important every year, because there are always people in need,” Stenson added. “But it’s even more important this year, because the number of people in need and the level of their need are so much greater. In fact, we have club members who have been, or are, struggling themselves.

“We chose Northwest Harvest for this event because of its excellent track record in feeding the needy,” he said.

More information about Seattle Singles Yacht Club can be found at its website: ttp://ssyc.com/">http://ssyc.com/.  More information about Northwest Harvest can be found at www.northwestharvest.org

Contacts: 

Lee Stenson, Commodore, 206-423-8425, or fleestenson@gmail.com

Jerry Dyer, Vice Commodore, (425) 466-5148, or jdyer@microsoft.com *
David Hostvedt, 206-232-2430, or svseverance@comcast.net