MARYSVILLE — Even if they’d visited the Marysville Community Food Bank before, they’d never experienced it like this.

Those who stopped by its open house Sept. 30 were issued color-coded tickets and given shopping guides.

Food bank volunteer Mark Poplar helped Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring and Fire Chief Martin McFalls pick out the bread they’d like, as if they were food bank clients.

“I’m impressed by the volume of food that goes out,” McFalls said, after Poplar told him how quickly shelves full of donated Panera Bread can be emptied.

Nehring added: “It’s really well-organized, to be able to meet the needs of each of their clients, based on their family sizes and dietary concerns. They’ve thought it through well.”

In the canned goods section, volunteers Mary Haynes and Kim Lohberg explained how they meet the needs of clients based on their living conditions.

“We don’t call them ‘homeless,'” Haynes said. “We call them ‘travelers.’ And we don’t judge them based on their looks or circumstances. Heck, I’ve been there.”

Lohberg added: “We look for folks who aren’t taking certain types of food, meals that require cooking or heat or water,and we steer them toward canned goods with pop-tops that can be eaten cold.

“They might not have can openers, but they can still use peanut butter and jelly,” she said. “If they don’t even have a car to live out of, we can give them a walking-around bag.”

Volunteer Al Ewing reported to city parks and recreation director Jim Ballew that the food bank buys hundreds of turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“You folks do better work with a buck than anybody,” Ballew said.

“We don’t just hand our clients pre-prepared sacks of food,” Ewing said. “We serve them in a more personalized way. We talk to them, and get to know them. At the same time, I have to make sure this line stays moving,” he laughed.

Volunteers Terri Snodgrass and Bobbi Bryant dispense an assortment of non-food items based on clients’ needs, from diapers to adult hygiene supplies.

“I’m paying it back,” Snodgrass said. “When I was little, we didn’t have a food bank, but people in our community helped our family get through its tough times, and there were twelve of us. I need to come through for these people.”

Food bank board member Tara Mizell said 1,250 children were served last year by the food bank’s Christmas toy store. Giving Gardens grows fresh produce for clients, and “Food For Thought” supplies weekend meals for students.

Amy Howell has spearheaded “Food For Thought” almost since its beginning in 2012, and she can remember when only 20 Marysville students were served. “Food For Thought” now serves 13 schools in Marysville and Lakewood. The program was serving 355 students by the end of last school year.

“What’s especially sad is that we have eight homeless children in the program this year,” said Howell, whose recent Facebook post about those kids generated $1,500 in donations.

Howell’s mother, JoAnn Sewell, is a veteran food bank volunteer, who laughed as she confessed, “I live here.” Sewell hopes the open house provides the public with some perspective on what the food bank does.

“I’m not sure they know just how many people we serve,” Sewell said. “What we do helps people keep their homes and cars, and pay their utilities.”

Food bank director Dell Deierling agreed: “They can buy clothes and medicine with that money.”

Deierling described himself as “blown away” by the swelling numbers of newly homeless clients in recent months, but he hastened to add that the food bank is not just for those in dire straits.

“We had one woman in line, a few weeks ago, whose friend had been pushing her to come here,” Deierling said. “She’d been selling personal items to buy food, and when her friend asked why she wouldn’t come to the food bank, she said, ‘I’m not poor.’ That can be a slippery slope, so we want to help people maintain their homes, until they can get back on their feet, because that’s a much easier climb.”