A note from our Executive Director
When we opened our doors to our new home in October 2021 we were still deep within the pandemic. The shift from services being held outside to our new home was a welcomed change! During our first year in our new home, our team of staff and volunteers, along with our community, quickly adapted to all our Hope for Hope offered. Simple actions like filling their shopping basket with fresh fruits and veggies brought smiles. Or sitting down in the Community Resource Hub to complete a job application or look for housing. Engaging with our team to ask questions, pick up their mail, or connect with one of our partner agencies that had returned to in-person programming.
One of my favorite days was when we were able to lift the mask requirement and folks could finally sit down inside the Kindness Café with a cup of coffee, bowl of soup and a grilled sandwich. I still remember kneeling beside a guest who smiled as she sipped her hot coffee and shared the sense of joy, gratitude, and community she felt as dined inside.
We worked hard to meet this need by adding staff and increasing food purchasing and financial assistance. Our food purchasing budget jumped from $300,000 to $850,000 alone. And our staff team grew with key positions around volunteers, café, client relations, and more!
Our board and staff revised our values to center racial equity. Our decisions are guided by our values. From how we build relationships with our community by meeting them where they are to fighting food insecurity and addressing the systemic racism that creates disparities around food, housing, health, jobs, education, and safety, especially for communities of color.
It’s these simple things that are easy for many of us to take for granted but are core to who we are as Ballard Food Bank – a warm, welcoming space that offers healthy food, hope, and belonging for so many today.
As I reflect on some of the most important moments at Ballard Food Bank in 2021-2022, a few things stand out:
Rapid growth in our first year in our new home. The recovery from the pandemic has been long and exhausting for so many in our community. On top of that inflation and supply chain issues bring many more families to visit. Our days are bustling with energy as folks enter to shop, eat in the café, and access critical services.
All our work could not happen without you, our community. Thank you for gifts of funds, time, and food. We can achieve our mission of bringing food and hope to our neighbors because of you.
With deep gratitude,
Jen Muzia, Executive Director
Thanks to the generosity of our community, we offered our guests healthy food and access to vital resources in our Hub for Hope through 2021-2022.
Each month we served 7,000+ people, with 12,000 connection touchpoints happening each month across our programs. Every day, new families walk into the food bank for the first time, not just for food, but also to check their mail, access healthcare, get help with rent and utilities, and meet with other social service providers.
As we continue to battle empty shelves and food shortages, our community continues to care for each other.
A story of hope
Alfonso came to Seattle in 1999 to escape the cycle of abuse he and his family faced in Mexico. He found employment at a plywood store where his cousin worked, and later at the Yankee Grill, a Ballard restaurant.
In 2000, Alfonso realized his cousin and sister-in-law were struggling. They learned about Ballard Food Bank, and visits to the food bank became part of the family’s routine. The food bank even helped with rental assistance. Alfonso didn’t use the food bank at the time, but a seed had been planted.
Some years later, Alfonso met an unhoused man named Samuel who needed help. Alfonso remembered the food bank and took Samuel there. Volunteers helped them with food. After Alfonso’s spiral into drug use, the food bank was there for him as he underwent his journey to recovery. You can read more here.
“The only place I found peace and help was the food bank,” he says. “It was the only place where I did not feel anger. ... The food bank was always there for me and I had to respond with gratitude. It kept me going. It ignited a necessity in my soul to serve others.”
We saw a spike in need during the pandemic. The need has still remained high.
Food insecurity affects some of the most vulnerable in our community: children who need food to grow and thrive. Twenty-five percent of the people we serve are under age 18. Older adults are also disproportionately impacted. Twenty-one percent of our clientele are over the age of 55.
COMMUNITY MARKET
Our market has been designed to look and function like a grocery store.
However, instead of money, smiles are exchanged. Our market carries everything from meat to produce to hygiene items.
We also strive to carry items that are long lasting, fresh, and healthy.
We intentionally offer foods that meet dietary and cultural needs, for example vegan, halal, kosher, vegetarian, gluten free etc. Anyone in Seattle is welcome to shop at this store.
“This place treats You like honored guests. The staff let you shop on your own. The merchandise is tip top quality and displayed beautifully.”
Home Delivery
Many of our clients who are elderly, have a medical condition or physical disability, childcare constraints, or a COVID related concern that prevents them from shopping at the Food Bank can schedule home delivery.
Home delivery bags include nutritious fruits, vegetables, proteins, dairy, and other non-perishable items that are available at the Food Bank. To the best of our ability, we work with our clients to accommodate their dietary needs and preferences.
Since opening the doors of our new home, many folks are coming in to shop instead. Currently, we deliver to 500 households each week across 8 zip codes in Northwest Seattle.
KINDNESS CAFÉ
We offer healthy and delicious hot meals at the free Kindness Café, where everyone is welcome. This beautiful and functional space, named after a beloved member of our Board of Directors, David O’Neal, has been incredibly well-received by our community.
A team of volunteers, led by our new Café Manager, fed about 400-500 folks a day, equating to 6,800 meals in 2021-22. Offerings include homemade soup, salads, sandwiches, and coffee.
These made-from-scratch meals, sourced from food in our market with fresh produce from our garden, have become an important part of the day for hundreds of food-insecure Seattleites.
“The Kindness Café is important because it is a place of community and it is so much more than a meal for people. It’s a place where they can come and be safe and warm and have a hot meal. There are times when regular guests of the Café will come in with their friends and show them around! One guest told me, “Can you believe him? He didn’t know Ballard Food Bank existed. I bring them here because this is a place where we can have a meal together.”
“They have enough veggies for my diet, they are open late-ish, plus they have free café service for those of us suffering cut hours and low wages. They take care of you.”
Resource hub
The Community Resource Hub is behind the welcome desk in the lobby.
With a larger space and an increased number of private offices, we can offer more opportunities for other social service providers to offer onsite services for our clients. Financial assistance is given out to our guests to help with their rent, utilities or any other bills. In 2022, we gave out $314,962 in financial assistance. Prior to Covid, we distributed $120,000 each year for financial assistance. We anticipate spending over $400,000 in 2023. This helps prevent homelessness by keeping people in their homes whenever possible.
We regularly survey our clients to learn what types of services and organizations would be helpful for them to access here, in a one-stop shop.
We currently have eighteen agencies as part of a rotating schedule of providers, with more partnerships in process.
These agencies provide a wide range of services from counseling and housing support for our LGBTQ+ clients to providing reduced transit fare cards for Veterans.
Our 18 service providers are listed as below
Clothing Mending
Denise Louie Child & Family Services
Eligibility Specialist
Harm Reduction Services
King County Mobile Medical Clinic
Molina Health
Neighborcare
Peer Seattle
Seattle Veterinary Outreach
Strive & Uplift
Polyclinic Enrollment
Swedish Ballard Family Medicine
United Healthcare
King County Vaccine Clinic
Washington State Vaccine Clinic
Solid Ground Housing Intake Assessment
ORCA Lift
Federal Veterans Administration
Ideal Option
As our Community Resource Hub staff members get to know our community members, they regularly refer and connect folks to over 18 other social service agencies as well, such as:
Bridge Care Center
Byrd Barr Place
Catholic Community Services
Hopelink
North Seattle Helpline
Queen Anne Helpline
United Church Fund
Saint Vincent de Paul
Salvation Army
Wellspring Family Services
Aurora Commons
Jubilee Women’s Center
Neighborhood legal clinic
Uplift Northwest
DSHS
Dignity for Divas
We also have computers, phones, and private spaces for use.
We offer a mailing address for our clients who don’t have a permanent residence. Folks can drop in and receive their packages here as well.
600 people currently make use of our mail room.
Financial assistance is given out to our guests to help with their rent, utilities or any other bills. In 2022, we gave out $314,962 in financial assistance. Prior to Covid, we spent $120,000.
“Most of the people in the homeless community know who I am, and they’ll stop me on the street and say ‘Hey Jody - my jacket needs to be mended.’ On Tuesdays, people come here (to the food bank) to drop off their clothes, and they know I’ll fix them.”
Weekend For Kids
This program is available to any child enrolled in one of the 20 Seattle Public Schools in our service area. The bags are intended to ensure that children who rely on food at school have food on weekends.
Participation in Weekend Food for Kids is confidential.
School staff, teachers, and family members identify students who would benefit from weekend meals. Each week the Food Bank provides partner schools with the food. School personnel or volunteers then discreetly distribute bags of food to students on Thursday or Fridays.
What’s included in a bag: 3 dinners, 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and snacks.
450 students receive the Weekend Food For Kids bags, which translates to 13,320 meals every month, that is worth $18,000 a month.
Each bag weighs about 8lbs. Each month we provide 14,400 lbs of food for the program.
“Every Thursday I look forward to the bags that arrive from Ballard Food Bank. It’s work having to discreetly put bags in lockers, but knowing that my students won’t be hungry over the weekend make it worth it. Thank you for your support.”
Summer of 2022, we debuted our new annual fundraiser, Ballard Bites & Brews. The festival featured beers from Ballard’s famous brewery district, bites from local restaurants and music from bands around town. We look forward to event this year – to be held on August 27th 2023.
Our Executive Director Jen Muzia is deeply involved in the local and regional coalitions and advocacy networks working to transform social service programs and change systems.
Click here to read more about it.
Financials
In the 2021-22 fiscal year, through the generosity of our community, we were able to increase our spending budget for food to $850,000 and financial assistance to $300,000 for a total of $1,150,000. In 2022-23 we are increasing our food and financial assistance budget to $1,900,000 with investments in food purchasing for our free community market, Kindness Café, Weekend Food For Kids programs and financial assistance. With the dramatic growth in community need due to the long-term impacts of the pandemic, plus inflation, these strategic investments will directly impact food insecurity and homelessness prevention for our neighbors throughout Seattle. In 2022-23 we will also continue to build our capacity by expanding our staffing to provide more access to food and services, as well as committing to wage equity for all our staff.
For any questions, please contact Colleen Martinson at colleenm@ballardfoodbank.org.
To read our 2020 and 2021 Annual Report, please click here.