Coffee & Charm: Lucille Sheppard Highlight

By Jade Fisher, Communications Specialist

If you've spent time in our café grabbing a bite in the past eight months, you've probably experienced the warmth of Lucille Sheppard. Clients, staff, and volunteers have come to learn that with Lucille, you're bound to get a smile and an endearing greeting along with your coffee. Lucille joined the cafe team in September 2023 as part of the AARP Senior Community Service Employment Program. We have enjoyed getting to know her generosity, kindness, and charm. Her program recently ended and her last day with the Kindness Café was April 11th.

Lucille's strong suit is breaking down walls and making even the most reserved people comfortable. She is a people-person through and through. This is evident in the way she interacts with every person she comes across in the food bank and how she constantly thinks of ways she can be of service to people going through hard times.

"I chose [to work in] the café because I, for about 12-14 years, used to cook pots and pots of pinto beans with ham and I'd make cornbread and take it downtown and feed the homeless. Once a month, we'd give out about 300 plates of food. Back in 1991, I saw a lot of homeless people at that time. Then I said 'Well I just want to help somebody,' One day I was on the metro bus and God showed me the perfect place to go set up and feed people. It was right there on 3rd and Yesler. So we would set up on those curbs. I would come and cover it and we could set our food there. I can't feed people like I used to. I used to make 10 big pots of beans and a honey baked ham and donate it all. I can't do that anymore but I can see the same people that need help now and feel like I'm helping the community with the café."

Lucille (pictured left) with the café team.

She describes her time at Ballard Food Bank as a beautiful, wonderful experience that she will miss.

A memory that particularly sticks out was meeting a woman who had been going through some things and showed up to the food bank without a coat for her three-year-old daughter. Lucille asked staff member Bri to help coordinate dropping a jacket off to the young girl. The woman and Lucille sat and talked a bit after she dropped off the coat and it was a memory Lucille looks back at fondly.

"Knowing a person's name and spending time talking with them," she explains the importance of these interactions, "this may be the only time they get a smile all day and feel welcome some place." 

She also recalls a time when Ballard Food Bank was helpful to her.  When she was out of work in 2004, Ballard Food Bank helped her with her rent - making her aware of the resources available at Ballard Food Bank. Now, the work she does in the café feels full-circle and builds on that mission to connect people in need with food and resources.

Lucille shares her thoughts on her experience at the Kindness Café, "It's been very exciting, and pleasant, and the people that work here - Natalie, Bri, and Cavan- make it so enjoyable to come to work. And even in the store and the warehouse, everybody just greets you with a smile so that's been a wonderful experience to feel accepted by everybody."

Mid way through this answer, Café staff members Natalie and Brianna walk through and are met with an enthusiastic "Good morning, you beautiful girls!" The big smile and greeting I witness perfectly encapsulate Lucille's positivity. It’s a welcoming demeanor that so many people will miss at the food bank.

Lucille truly embodies our values of centering relationships, meeting people where they are in the moment, and treating every individual with respect and dignity. We wish her luck in her future endeavors and appreciate the time she spent helping provide guests, volunteers, and staff with delicious meals, hot coffee, and wonderful conversation. She has greatly contributed to the inclusive, welcoming culture we foster here at the Ballard Food Bank.