Distinctive drive

As Deller Foutz tells it, you can’t say the word “free” around here and expect it to go unnoticed, so he should have known better.

Foutz is the owner of the tattoo and piercing shop Feel Good Ink on East Sprague Avenue in Spokane Valley, and he had an idea for a food drive: offer a free body piercing in exchange for canned food.

“We told people they’d get a free body piercing, including jewelry, if they brought in five or more cans of food,” Foutz said. “They could get everything pierced, except exotic piercings, you know, anything below the belt, that kind of thing.”

In a time where it’s challenging to find creative ways to needle people for money, the slightly unusual food drives seem to be succeeding.

Foutz was overwhelmed by the response: he gave away more than 300 piercings and kept at it nonstop from 10 a.m. to well past midnight, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

“We ran out of needles, we ran out of jewelry and we ended up with so many people in line, we had to ask some to come back later,” Foutz said.

In the end, piercing-happy customers donated 2,400 pounds of canned food.

“We were hoping for a ton, and we beat that by so much,” Foutz said. “It was totally worth it.” He said he’d do it again in a heartbeat, but probably ask for a bigger donation as a way to perhaps limit the crowds.

“It was wild, there was no parking and people were packed in here,” Foutz said.

Barbara Bennett, the Spokane Valley Partners Food Bank director, said Foutz’s food drive result was impressive.

“This year, we did wonderful for Thanksgiving. It’s the first time I wasn’t terrified we’d run out of food,” Bennett said. “But that doesn’t mean the need is over. Every week in October we broke a record as to how many people we served.”

Bennett said 923 families were served in October. In November that number climbed to 1,628 – compared to around 1,200 families in November of last year.

“We used to see about 140 families on the days we serve; yesterday we saw 190,” Bennett said. “The need just keeps climbing.”

In downtown Spokane, two very different bars decided to challenge each other for a food drive night on the Monday before Thanksgiving.

“We called it ‘the battle of the bars’ – we wanted to do something different, and to get involved in the community at the same time,” said Nicole Bradley of The Boulevard which challenged the new, upscale nightclub, The Marquis. “We billed it as jocks versus rocks. We were the rocks here at the Boulevard, of course.”

The “loser” establishment would host a party for the winner, so now The Boulevard’s staff is looking forward to a posh night at The Marquis.

“We had the donation bins here for quite some time, and we ended the drive with a big party evening, with live music and fun,” Bradley said.

She’s not sure how much food was collected, but Bradley said the battle of the bars may turn into a tournament.

“The Marquis wants a rematch now. So we’re getting ready to do the same thing for Coats for Kids.”