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PORT ANGELES – A massive shipment of potatoes and onions is coming to Clallam County this week to be distributed for free to anyone in need.

The project is the brainchild of Port Commissioner (and candidate for State Senator) Connie Beauvais. She got the idea after seeing recent news stories of eastern Washington farmers stuck with hundreds of tons of potatoes they can’t sell because of restaurant closures due to coronavirus. Some of those farmers have dumped truckloads of potatoes on the ground in various communities and invited folks to come and take what they want.

While she loved the idea, the thought of asking people to pick up potatoes off the ground sounded a little unsavory to Beauvais.

“So I decided to set out on my own to get potatoes, and I wanted them in 10-pound bags. So I have actually paid for the packaging and palletizing of these potatoes. They’re in ten pound bags. And I talked to Hermann Brothers, Mike Hermann and Bill Hermann, and they agreed to send a truck over to get the potatoes, very graciously. So we have 50,000 pounds of potatoes coming, and then we have someone in a truck and a trailer going over there today to pick up 6000 pounds of onions.”

Beauvais says she’s contacted the tribes in the county and all but one said they’d like some potatoes and onions. She also says some, but not all, of the local food banks would like some as well.

“But I know that there’s going to be a lot left over, and so I decided that we needed to have a potato and onion drive-through. And that is going to take place this next Saturday morning starting at 10 a.m, at the parking lot on the north side of the fairgrounds. And we’ll have all of the gates open, and we will have a trailer parked there, and we’ll be handing out, for free, potatoes and onions.”

Beauvais had a lot of people to thank for making the project happen. Besides Bill and Mike Hermann sending a truck to get the potatoes, County Commissioner Bill Peach contributed to the cost of getting the potatoes packed into 10-pound bags, Jim Buck and Terry Barnett are making the onion run, and Saars Super Saver Foods has donated produce bags to bag-up the onions.

Beauvais says she could use more volunteers to help distribute the produce on Saturday. If you can lend a hand, call or text her at (360)797-4261. Again, it’s happening starting at 10:00 am Saturday in the parking lot at 18th and I Streets near the fairgrounds in Port Angeles.

Forks Mayor Tim Fletcher is working on a similar event in the west end and we’ll update our story when those details are available.

Photo: Beauvais and husband Jim.

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