The holidays are the time of year when food insecurity can feel the most acute. Families are sometimes forced to choose between putting food on the table, paying for essential costs like heating or buying gifts for their children. A warm meal can break the cycle of guilt that many feel and helps to strengthen family bonds.
In Pierce County, Washington, one in 10 residents report some level of food insecurity. One community bank in Tacoma was inspired to make a difference, bringing the local community together to help out just before the holidays.
On Dec. 19, 2024, $740 million-asset Commencement Bank launched food-security initiative Hams for the Holidays, in which it gave out hams to community members experiencing food insecurity from a distribution station outside the Tacoma Dome, the city’s arena. It went so well that the third annual event is kicking off this December.
“It’s fantastic,” says Victoria Austin, senior communications manager for the bank’s partner, Tacoma Venues & Events, the City of Tacoma department that oversees the Tacoma Dome. “Everyone comes together to hand-deliver this nourishing holiday staple. Not only do we get to meet our neighbors; we get to help them and talk to them and share the spirit of the holiday together.”
A culture of service
Giving back has been key to Commencement Bank’s mission since its founding in 2006. “Since day one, our involvement in the community has not stopped,” says human resources manager Rebecca Williamson. “Even during some of those tougher financial years, we have supported nonprofits, and that is something that we plan to continue doing.”
The community bank encourages its 85 employees across five branches to support the causes they are passionate about by offering eight volunteer hours per employee every year, but Hams for the Holidays has struck a particular chord.
The idea was born just before Thanksgiving in 2023, when Commencement Bank sponsored a turkey distribution event led by the Tacoma Police Department and Tacoma Venue & Events.
“Several of the employees at the bank volunteered to hand out turkeys, and it was such an amazing event to be able to support our community members,” says Williamson. “But it was also very eye-opening as to how many people really need that assistance. There’s only so many turkeys, and some folks didn’t get one.”
Rewarding for all involved
The community bank’s former marketing and communications manager, Galen Annest, suggested that since there wasn’t a similar event around the December holidays, the bank could replicate the idea for 2024, but with hams.
So, the following year, a group of local organizations came together to make it happen. Commencement Bank covered the operational costs; Tacoma Venue & Events handled logistics; and Nourish Pierce County, whose network of food banks provide food and support services to people in need, sourced the hams, which were paid for by a variety of local sponsors and bank customers.
On the day, dozens of volunteers showed up at the drive-thru distribution station outside the Tacoma Dome to unload the refrigerator truck, unbox, direct traffic, greet drivers and distribute about 1,500 hams.
“It’s just an incredible scene to see everybody working together and enjoying their job,” says Williamson. “We get there probably an hour or two before the event starts, and then the cars just filter through the line, and off they go. It’s pretty incredible to see the number of cars lined up before it starts, and then all of them just continue to trickle in throughout the day.”
The event grew from year one to year two, raising more money despite the price of hams doubling in 2025, according to Williamson.
“[The price rise] was pretty shocking, but the call for raising the money also increased, and we were able to provide more to the community the second year than we were the first year,” says Williamson.
In 2025, Commencement Bank gave out 2,000 hams (and turkeys, for those who don’t eat ham), as well as candy canes and dog treats. The team took leftovers to food banks, donated surplus funds to the online telehealth platform Nourish and even dropped off a few care packages to people who couldn’t make it to the event.
Getting the community bank’s employees to step up was the easiest part, says Kimberly Betzina, its marketing manager.
“The volunteers are basically fighting for a spot to hand out the hams,” she says. “They’ll say, ‘She covered the branch this year, so remember, next year I get to be first up.’ Everybody loves this, because we get to be there in person, and you get to hand the ham to somebody, and everybody’s so grateful. That’s the awesome part.”