Community Loaves: Bread baked with love by your neighbors

Building partnerships within the Ballard community is essential to our mission and our commitment to clients. The ongoing pandemic and persistent food shortages spotlight just how important these partnerships are as we continue to find new, creative ways to assist our clients and ensure that they have the resources they need when they come to the Hub for Hope.

One partnership that has been especially crucial during these challenging times is with Community Loaves. Community Loaves is a nonprofit organization that empowers local, everyday people to bake bread for their neighbors in need, partnering with several food banks in their region and distributing the loaves free of charge. We learned about this community-based organization through Ballard Food Bank volunteer, Liz Henley, who also volunteers as a baker for Community Loaves.

Liz began volunteering for Community Loaves about a year ago after she started to make her own bread during the pandemic to avoid shopping in public places as much as possible to avoid the spread of the virus. It did not take long before Liz began to remember how much she loved baking. “It brought back memories of my mom coming home from school and smelling fresh bread.”

Pictured here is Liz Henyey, who volunteers with Ballard Food Bank and Community Loaves.

After about a year, she saw a post from Community Loaves seeking bakers who were looking to improve their skills while also supporting local food banks. She signed up right away and has been volunteering with Community Loaves for more than a year now.

After about six months into her new baking gig with Community Loaves, Liz returned to her regular volunteer post with Ballard Food Bank after a short hiatus to stay safe during the pandemic. She was excited to see that Ballard Food Bank had settled into its new Hub for Hope, and she began to help at the welcome desk.

We asked Liz what she thought of the new space. “I've noticed a big change in the attitudes of people. When I talk to [clients], the first thing they say is that they feel human [in the new space]. That's the whole goal! To build community, and to make you feel good about coming here.” You couldn’t be more right, Liz!

Not long after Liz returned to Ballard Food Bank, we began to feel the impact of the national food shortages at the Hub for Hope. We saw an outpour of support from our neighbors, but there were times when we still struggled to keep certain items stocked. One of them being: bread.

When Liz noticed this, she knew that Community Loaves would be able to help. Over the course of several weeks, we learned more about the organization from Liz, but we were unsure whether donated bread made by community bakers would meet our health guidelines. That’s when Liz connected us with Community Loaves’ regional coordinator, Katherine, who provided the information we needed to make this partnership happen and a few months ago we began to receive bread baked by our neighbors!

When we asked Liz why she was so committed to seeing this partnership come to fruition, she pointed out what makes Community Loaves’ bread exceptional. “It's got a long shelf life, no preservatives, and is highly nutritious.”

We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Community Loaves, as well as our other community partners that facilitate neighbors helping neighbors. We encourage all our clients to try this wonderful bread and remember these words from Liz: “This bread is baked with love from by people in your neighborhood.”