By Peggy Sturdivant

No November day in Seattle ever seemed as magnificent as Election Day dawned. At 7:30 a.m. at Ballard Commons the sky was cloudless, the sun already warm. I was trying to catch Bernadette Walcott in the kitchen at St. Luke’s where she is one of the breakfast cooks for their Edible Hope Ministry three mornings a week. She will be one of the cooks “competing” in the Bringing in Ballard: Harvest event that continues to be my ‘next big thing.’

But at 7:30 a.m. in the warm kitchen I was already too late to catch Bernadette. And on a day when millions of women thought they would see the first woman elected President of the United States it was already too late…but we didn’t know it.

Rain returned on November 9, 2016 along with shock. At Ballard Food Bank they thought there might be a shortage of volunteers to restock the shelves, open the doors and deliver food to clients. It was the opposite. The volunteer turnout was higher than normal, with people walking in during the day to say, “I’d like to volunteer.”

On November 9th at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church members of the Bishop’s Committee and other parishioners, all women, gathered to prepare the altar for the following night’s celebration. Canon Britt Olson was to be installed as Vicar by the Bishop. On Thursday, November 10, 2016 the interior lights lit the outside dark on the corner across from the ballot box that had buzzed with people for days beforehand. Well-wishers from all over Seattle filled every seat to celebrate a new chapter for a church that survived losing most of its parish six years ago.

The key to St. Luke’s parish campus was left in the hands of 12 women who have managed to carry on its decades-long feeding ministry and oversee St. Luke’s rebirth. It was not a coincidence that most of the parish left The Episcopal Church in 2010 after it had appointed its first openly gay female bishop. The lights are back on at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church after its dark time.

As were the lights before dawn at the Ballard Food Bank on that first “day after” when we awoke to the huge divide in our nation. There were crates and crates of potatoes and apples ready for pickup that would soon fill the Ballard Food Bank’s grocery store model. The coffee pot was on and staff members and volunteers were arriving. The new hygiene center was stocked, a space readied for a new Community Hub where social service groups can meet with clients and homeless veterans can receive primary care from ‘Dr. Dan’ from the Veteran’s Administration on Wednesdays.

The final Bringing in Ballard event, that I wrote about last week as well, will have teams cooking for the benefit of St. Luke’s Edible Hope Program and the Ballard Food Bank. Ballard Food Bank’s Development and Communications Director Erin Tierney gave me a tour with more enthusiasm than seemed possible on a day that seems, in hindsight, even more historic than the day before. President Obama had said on Election Day, “No matter what happens the sun will rise in the morning.”

By late afternoon when I had my tour the rains had cleared and there was a weak light to the sky. Tierney showed me the food bank bins to be stocked, the flyers for the Turkey Trot…after all The Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning is the food bank’s largest annual fundraiser, and this is its 10th year. Twins who start the race every year in turkey costumes are hot to trot, rain or shine, because there was need before the election and an even greater need after the election. To connect. To start over.

So I’m especially glad I’ve been part of the Low Income Housing Institute’s Bringing in Ballard Speaker Series over the last year. The Steering Committee for the Seattle Department of Neighborhood funded grant has been tireless, particularly Holly Gold, Britt Olson with St. Luke’s, Jenny Heins with Sustainable Ballard, Cass O’Callaghan with Ballard Historical Society, Jean Darsie with the Ballard Task Force on Homelessness and Hunger, Josh Castle and Arthur Warmuth with LIHI and Cheryl Chow Court residents, and Wendy Graff on communications. After 29 years in Ballard the Bringing in Ballard grant has taken me new places and connected me in new ways – all of them positive.

The final event’s theme is harvest. The current competitors who will cook from scratch with food bank ingredients are Bernadette Walcott and Robert Loomis from St. Luke’s, Ballard Food Bank Board member Nathan Walker and his father Randy, and Bruce Naftaly, well-known professional chef. There will be music, aprons, awards, good food, community and laughter.

After all the sun did rise on the morning after and the lights will be shining bright at St. Luke’s on Friday night.

Support Ballard Food Bank and Edible Hope by being part of the Bringing in Ballard event November 18, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. St. Luke’s, 5710 22nd NW. More details at facebook.com/bringinginballard/ Free admission. Bring a dish to share or a pie to be judged. Event will include music, craft and awards.
Turkey Trot registration is at www.seattleturkeytrot.org