MARYSVILLE — While Windermere Real Estate at 801 State Ave. is a regular contributor to the Marysville Community Food Bank, they tried a new tack to raise funds and generate food donations on Saturday, Sept. 22.

Although the day’s morning rain threatened to put a damper on Windermere’s first-ever car wash fundraiser for the food bank, event organizers reported that the skies cleared early enough for the brief good weather to draw even more cars to their wash than they suspect they would have received otherwise.

According to Dan Peterson, the managing broker for Windermere in Marysville, he and his fellow volunteers from that branch had raised $350 of their $500 goal for the five-hour event with nearly two hours left.

“We had one person just hand us $250 worth of groceries that they’d bought at the local Safeway,” said Connie Redden, a realtor and broker at Windermere in Marysville. “A lot of folks have been dropping off food without even caring whether they get their cars washed or not.”

Peterson estimated that his volunteers had washed 25 cars in the first three hours of the event, and went on to calculate that Windermere raised the equivalent of approximately 1,500 pounds of food through their efforts throughout the day.

“We really appreciate all the donations of both food and money we’ve received,” said Peterson, who noted that Windermere volunteers had also taken up residence at their traditional spot in front of the Marysville Safeway on State Avenue during the week leading up to the car wash. “We probably got a couple of hundred bucks a day from that as well. It used to be that the food bank could buy six pounds of food for every dollar they received, but now it’s down to two pounds per dollar”

Windermere in Marysville is continuing to collect for the food bank, with all proceeds going directly to the food bank itself. Volunteers are accepting cash, checks and non-perishable food items at their office, and will be stationed at the Marysville Haggen Food & Pharmacy on 88th Street on Thursday, Sept. 27, and Friday, Sept. 28.

“The food bank’s shelves are really low this year,” Peterson said. “The need is always great, no matter what community you live in. This will enable many people to eat that would have otherwise gone hungry.”