n the teeth of the most trying economic times since the Great Depression, Auburn Food Bank Director Debbie Christian feeds Auburn’s hungry families and individuals, and does it superlatively.
Recognizing her dedication, pluck and big heart, the Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce named Christian its Citizen of the Year during the annual awards banquet at the Muckleshoot Casino last week.
Christian, remembering how the Auburn Reporter bestowed its Person of the Year honor on her last December, couldn’t help but wonder, why all the fuss? Her hardworking staff and the community that responds to the need out there are the real heroes, she said.
“I feel very humbled and very overwhelmed,” Christian said. “Both honors were a shock. Never in my life did I expect to get awards like that. I am blessed by my job. Word about this got around my church on Sunday, and someone said, ‘I’ve never seen you blush so red.’ It’s been quite humbling.”
As he presented the award, Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis said that Christian organized her first all-city food drive while she was still a sophomore in high school and hasn’t stopped volunteering since. She has lent her time to Auburn Good Ol’ Days, Auburn Family Week, Wesley Homes, the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, Northwest Family Church, the Kiwanis Club, the Miss Auburn Scholarship program and the South King County Food Coalition among other causes and organizations.
In 1992, Christian was named Kiwanian of the Year. In 2009 Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation bestowed on her its Mental Health Notable Leader of the Year Award. She also is an alumna of the Leadership Institute of South Puget Sound.
“She has yet to turn away anyone that comes to her for help,” Lewis said. “Without a doubt, her leadership role and faith continue to be beacons that allow her to get food and assistance necessary to the people of Auburn.”
Making it happen is not an easy task.
“As far as trying to help people, it’s still day by day,” Christian said. “After the recent Post Office food drive, we saved up and put food away. But every day for the last three weeks has been a record day. Our record high is 168, and we are getting close to that every day. We emptied our warehouse again and had to make food purchases, something we have not done in quite awhile.
“We are registering 15 to 20 families a day. These people aren’t new to the neighborhood, just new to the cycle of having to ask for help. For most of them, the problem has been losings jobs, jobs being cut back,” Christian said.
Christian finds herself calling every day upon the simple virtues and rock-solid faith she learned from her pastor and father, Jim Stevens.
From morning to night, the job keeps Christian on the go.
She said that she spends about 45 percent of her time attending meetings and getting the food bank’s name and face out there. Another 10 percent, she said, centers on administrative tasks.
“It feels like I don’t sit at my desk before 2 p.m.,” Christian told the Reporter last December. “The phones are ringing off the hook before we walk in the door. So while we’re trying to get the messages from last night, we’re trying to answer the calls from today.”
No doubt about it, the Auburn Food Bank is a humming hive of activity.
Five years ago it took over the long-running community supper at the First United Methodist Church.
In 2008, it began partnering with the Northwest Family Church on a new Wednesday Night dinner. And it runs a backpack program, which chooses the neediest children on the free-and-reduced-lunch program to receive backpacks of food for the weekend.
“I think I have an addiction to connecting people with resources,” Christian told the Reporter last December. “I thrive off of solving problems, and this is a job that allows me to solve problems all day long. I like that. If it weren’t for my faith, I don’t think I could come here every day. My faith gives me the strength to get up in the morning and come to work and face needy, hungry people who are so far down sometimes that they can’t see up. If I didn’t know that there is a better way, and there is a bettor life for them, I don’t think I could do it. They just need to be given a kind word and a smile and the hope for tomorrow to get them through.”
The Chamber announced the following awards as well:
• Ambassador of the Year, Dawn Heilbrun, Mountain Valley Mortgage
• Chamber Member of the Year: Ron Copple, Copple Insurance Company
• Business of the Year: Emerald Aire
