Volunteer Appreciation Week at NK Fishline

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Since 1967, thousands of volunteers have served our community through NK Fishline by giving their time, talent and heart. Currently, we have over 250 volunteers who are actively making a difference in the lives of our neighbors. These past and present volunteers are the soul of our organization and we could not serve the community without them.



There are no words to describe the incredible people we have working at NK Fishline. I know this because I do my best to express my gratitude to and for them every day. The sensation that fills my heart each morning as I work is unexplainable, but I will do my best to elaborate.

Picture a dark, soggy, blustery Monday morning in the middle of December. It’s 7:30am and I am sitting at my desk with a view of a large vacant parking lot. Minutes silently pass and then I hear a vehicle pulling in, then more headlights and another car, followed by another, and yet another. Within minutes, my quiet workplace is a buzzing hive of activity. I hear laughter, salutations, and even exclamations of delight as volunteers reconnect after time spent apart. Boxes are being shuffled and sorted and carts roll across the concrete floor. The market has come alive and in this eventful commotion my heart smiles. This is no ordinary place of business; this is NK Fishline where neighbors come to serve their neighbors and make a difference in the lives of others. This is a place where volunteering means you are part of a family and service is done amongst friends.


Our market operates with over 145 regularly scheduled volunteers a week. These selfless individuals come to sort thousands of pounds of food each day and make our market a warm and friendly place for our clients.

Volunteers at Second Season sort through mountains of clothing donations, while volunteers at Second Season Home Store breathe new life into gently used furniture. These stores boast impressive sales with over 80 volunteers working together to provide quality clothing, decor and furniture to our local community, knowing the proceeds will be returning to our facilities and neighbors in need.

In addition to our market and stores, there are many volunteers you will never meet. These volunteers are behind the scenes entering data, making calls to follow up on clients, and working on our computers and software. They may be out of sight, however, they are never forgotten when it comes to our success.

Some might think it’s overwhelming to have so many volunteers running an organization, but the only thing overpowering is the feeling of gratitude I have for the volunteers. They come rain or shine, when many would find curling up with a good book or getting their own chores done better time spent.

It is truly a privilege to work alongside such incredible people. If I were to try and verbalize this feeling, it would be an amalgam of love, admiration, hope, and gratitude. Every day I watch a stream of volunteers bring our facilities to life. My faith in this world is renewed daily as I witness generosity, empathy, and compassion from my neighbors. Words are not enough; nonetheless, I will say this from my heart with adoration and respect: Thank you to those who give their lives to others, especially the volunteers of NK Fishline. You are a gift to our community that cannot be measured.

-Marie Hobson, Volunteer Manager

Lead Volunteer Position Available

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A leading volunteer position available at NK Fishline

If you like interior design, have a little management background and can spare 15-20 hours a week, we invite you to consider applying for our Second Season Home Store Manager position. Our new Fishline business is off to a great start and shows much promise to grow to become an even more successful downtown retail merchant. This volunteer position will give you an opportunity to make a difference in our community by managing a dedicated group of volunteers and leading our Second Season Home Store to the next level of success.

The position includes these responsibilities:

  • Site manager, overseeing volunteers, donations, sales and administrative functions.
  • Responsible for the basic budget of the store and coordinating pricing guidelines.
  • Serve as liaison to Second Season Thrift Store and the Fishline staff, attending bi-monthly staff meetings and providing monthly status reports to management.
  • Encourage consistent stream of inventory, including monitoring donation standards and calibrating pricing to assist in quick turnover of our items.

Other desired attributes of the Store Manager are an ability to work well with customers and volunteers, some on-call availability, light lifting of furniture items, and the ability to work as a team.

If you are interested in exploring this opportunity, contact Mary Nader at [email protected] or call 779-4191 by March 13.
 
*This is a nonpaid volunteer position

We also have openings for volunteers at both Second Season stores and the food bank. Contact [email protected] to apply for a volunteer position.

A Beautiful Song That Fills Our Hearts

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Every once in a while, I would enter my predecessor’s office while she was still our director, and she would reverently whisper, “Do you hear that?”

At first, I was confused by her question. There was a lot of noise at Fishline, that was for sure, as volunteers were shuffling food in and out of the market, clients were shopping, children in various stages of not-so-patient waiting. 

But she reminded me, “If you listen with your heart, you will hear a wonderful hum. It may seem like chaos, but there are times when everything is moving smoothly that you can really feel the positive energy, the contentment, and joy of a shared mission. That is the hum you hope for every day.”

I have since learned to hear that hum. Even in our little building on 3rd Avenue, with its crowded corridors and tiny market, people found a way to work and shop together with grace and courtesy. 

The hum is louder now that we’ve moved into a larger facility with its many more moving parts.  With double the number of volunteers and a growing number of client visits each day, there is a whir of energy and activity that impresses every visitor. At the food bank alone, 12-15 volunteers are needed for each shift, and they move with enthusiasm and order, surprised at the way that simple chores can be so intoxicating. 

Perhaps it is in the shopping experience that the hum is noticed the most.  Our lighter, more spacious store setting has contributed to a relaxing and uplifting environment that everyone can feel. Volunteers chat with grateful clients, donors stop by throughout the day to drop off their offerings and to visit for a while, others come to consult with onsite employment specialists or to attend a seminar. 

Sometimes, just a chance to connect with good people can dissolve the loneliness so many feel in their lives. We understand more than ever that we have an opportunity to nourish people in ways beyond the daily bread we start with.

Helpers often tell us how taken aback they were to learn how strong and impactful the return on this investment can be. They could never have predicted the feeling of joining in this age-old dance, the beautiful result of charity starting at home. It is an experience like no other. 
“Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.”

James Barrie, the author who created Peter Pan, once said, “Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” We see evidence of this maxim every day.  We come, thinking we are here to help others, and we find out that we are the ones who receive the greatest gifts. The difficult life situations our clients face can transform into bonding experiences that draw us closer as a community and open the way to mutual fulfillment and purpose. 

I now believe this hum is a sign that we have uncovered one of the paths to true happiness and peace of mind: When we help each other, we help ourselves, and the universe conspires to turn that energy into a beautiful song that fills our hearts.
~ Mary Nader, Executive Director, NK Fishline 

Fishline Brings Hope in the Form of SOS: Stability, Opportunity, and Success

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After two years of unemployment frustrations Debbie’s once calm and capable husband had a mental breakdown. He struck out at her and the children and this resulted in a court restraining order. As the family spun out of control Debbie’s oldest daughter just now turning 18 shared the news – her unexpected pregnancy. On top of that Debbie’s youngest child her 6 year old son was struggling in school with disabilities which seemed to increase with every new family challenge.

Flash forward several months later to a family still on the brink of disintegration. Having always relied on her spouse to keep the finances afloat Debbie now had to maintain her home on her SSI payments alone. Her now very pregnant daughter applied for state assistance and received an additional $238.00 per month but the home they had rented faithfully for the past 5 years was now in eviction status.

She did not know what else she could do. She had held up the mountain for as long as she could. There was no one to turn to and no relatives to help. Now with her daughter’s pregnancy due date in just two short weeks the family would find themselves homeless.

They came to Fishline for help. Upon reviewing their finances it was determined that they could afford to stay in the home if they could just get caught up – they were about $800.00 behind in rent and several hundred in utility bills. A referral was made to our partner agency St Vincent de Paul who covered all the utilities and Fishline was able to access the Housing Scholarship funds to cover the $800.00 in back rent.

Providing services to people like Debbie is not a new concept for Fishline, however we have come to understand that meeting the emergency needs of clients, while noble, is no longer enough to survive our current economic downturn and job losses. Fishline is going a step further by incorporating services that offer our community members the stability to weather a crisis, the opportunity to grow themselves out of poverty, and the real sense of personal success.


We call this new approach the SOS Program, SOS recognized as a call for help is becoming a beacon of hope. Our version of SOS stands for Stability, Opportunity and Success.

Our hope is to interrupt, at least a little bit, the cycle of poverty and dependency and help people achieve their potential. The program achieves its goals by personal and holistic interviews with new clients, an informative resource room, visiting on-site consultants, enrichment classes and community building groups.

Debbie and her daughter needed a hand up. They are now attending budgeting classes together. The daughter is attending parenting classes and utilizing WIC resources in order to be the best new Mom she can be. The family is engaged in supportive counseling and they are anxious to pay it forward whenever they are able to gain financial footing. She and her family are forever grateful for the Housing Scholarship Program and the stability it is affording them. But most importantly they are thrilled to be able to provide a safe and nurturing environment for her beautiful new granddaughter whose middle name will be Hope.

When clients have been supported and have worked hard at finding their own successful outcomes they become a catalyst for community growth. Thank you, our donors, supporters, and clients for teaching us how to work together to grow our community in positive and life changing ways.

This post was written by our Client Services Advocate, Rae Rodriguez and published in the print edition of the North Kitsap Herald on Friday, July 25th. 

Working Together Towards the Day When No One is Hungry or Homeless

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The efforts to increase the minimum wages in Sea-Tac and Seattle shed light on a problem that most communities have been experiencing in recent years. For many on the low end of the income scale, wages are not keeping up with costs, forcing hard-working families to work longer hours and more jobs, yet still finding themselves falling behind. 

An increasing number of families are having to face the painful reality that, even though they are working those long hours and making many sacrifices, their budget numbers are just not adding up. Increasing costs of living are not being compensated for in their paychecks. Each month, there is less discretionary income and less room for unexpected bills. 


This problem of diminishing buying power becomes stark and real when you take a moment to do the math. Even a dollar or two above minimum wage will bring in just enough to pay prevailing rental costs for the least expensive of our housing options. By the time you add the cost of utilities, gasoline and health care insurance, the only course of action is to find another job. Winter utility bills, the cost of day care and the increasing cost of food can’t be covered without extra income. 


We hear these stories of survival from our clients every day. After all the necessary bills are paid, there is just not enough money to buy food. Eligibility for SNAP food stamp benefits excludes most working families because their meager incomes are above the maximum requirement to qualify. So having access to nutritious food at Fishline is, for some, life saving. Their shelves would be empty without it. But also concerning is the relentless pressure that so many families feel – as one client recently put it, “I just want to have a life when not every week is a financial struggle.” 

At Fishline, we work hard to keep families safe and secure during a life crisis while also offering regular access to nutrition for those living in persistent poverty. We can help stretch a family’s budget, at least temporarily, easing the daily tensions. But is there more we can do? 

Addressing a grave concern that 42% of children raised in poverty will live adult lives in poverty, more organizations like Fishline are shifting their focus from crisis intervention to crisis avoidance and long-term potential by offering those who are in need options before the crisis occurs, increasing avenues for opportunity and education and supporting those who wish to further their own security by going to school or learning a new trade. 

Access to living-wage jobs is the most important key to breaking the cycle of poverty, but the reality is that there are not enough of these jobs for everyone. The number of applicants for any decent job is poignant proof of that. Perhaps the more revolutionary approach would be to make all jobs living-wage jobs, certainly one of the motivating factors behind the push to increase the minimum wage in Seattle. 

Until that day comes, we must find other ways to offer opportunity and financial stability for all citizens. This age-old problem is not unsolvable, but like most perplexing problems, it is best approached gradually. To buck macroeconomics, and take control locally to create a different and more just economic dynamic, won’t be easy. That shouldn’t stop us from trying. 


Voltaire once said, “No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking.” Keeping the thinking going, and drawing out the good ideas of our neighbors then gathering support to move them forward, is the inspiration behind our free community viewing of “A Place at the Table”. It is a compelling documentary that highlights the struggles of three families, while “showing how the issue could be solved forever, once the American public decides—as they have in the past—that ending hunger is in the best interests of us all.” Join us on June 29 from 3 to 5 o’clock at North Point Church, watch the movie, and join us for the community discussion that will follow. 

It might just be that the economy of the future will change from the grassroots, organically driven by inventive, inspired local communities creating the world they want for their children. That kind of power is available to all of us and can move mountains. Creating a future where no one is hungry or homeless is surely worth the effort.