By Erin Hawkins

Olympic Peninsula News Group

SEQUIM — Sequim residents and local businesses are stepping up to giving back to the community.

Skunkworks Auto Detailing &Body Repair provided a full-service detail to a van that a retired Sequim couple donated anonymously to Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP), which operates in Clallam and Jefferson counties.

Gabe Santiago, who runs OlyCAP’s senior nutrition program, said the donated van was much needed for transporting meals through OlyCAP’s congregate meal and home-delivered nutrition services.

OlyCAP transports meals from the Port Angeles Community Center to Sequim’s Shipley Center on Tuesdays-Fridays for congregate meals each week and also delivers meals directly to clients’ homes.

Detailers Jesse Bailey and Chris Babcock volunteered their time last week to wash and condition the inside of the van, clean its instruments and wax and touch up the paint on the outside.

Bailey said he volunteered because he knows what it is like to be without food.

“Anything I can do to help people,” he said.

Babcock shared his sentiments on the project, saying, “It comes back, I feel,” when it comes to helping others.

Mozelle Maness, a volunteer tour guide at Shipley Center, said the van was donated by her clients, a couple who recently moved and retired to Sequim. They no longer needed it and wanted to make a local donation to the community, Maness said.

Maness asked Linda Chamness, owner of Skunkworks, if her company would be able to help by providing a detail service to clean up the van the couple used to move materials while constructing their home. Chamness agreed to provide the service free of charge.

“I wanted to do it. It’s giving back to the community,” Chamness said about the project. She is hoping it will inspire other business owners in the community.

Santiago said OlyCAP has borrowed a truck to transport meals. When the donated van became available, it was the perfect opportunity.

“We definitely need a vehicle,” Santiago said. “It’s an awesome expense we don’t have to worry about right now.”

OlyCAP’s senior nutrition program provides anywhere from 16 to 24 meals on any given night for the congregate program in Sequim, Santiago explained, and serves at least 20 people through Meals on Wheels.

Santiago said it was great to see everyone step up to support the senior nutrition program.

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Erin Hawkins is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach her at ehawkins@sequimgazette.com.

Jesse Bailey, an employee at Skunkworks Auto Detailing & Body Repair, volunteered to detail the inside of a donated van that will be used for Olympic Community Actions Programs’ senior nutrition program. (Erin Hawkins/Olympic Peninsula News Group)