Season's Greetings from Ballard Food Bank!

YOU helped make 2024 a success. In this last year our community fostered genuine connections, worked tirelessly, and collaborated beautifully to bring food and hope to our neighbors.

To close out the year, we're celebrating this joyful holiday season with our wonderful visitors, volunteers, and staff!

Have you spotted any festive outfits during your visits to the Ballard Food Bank? The wintry wardrobes shone brightly in our Community Market, offices, and Community Resource Hub!

Weekend Food For Kids program manager Lily Cowen led a group pack that provided over 1,000 bags for our Seattle Public School students. These double packs ensure kiddos in our service area have enough food to last throughout winter break. Thanks to Lily's outstanding leadership, we are currently serving more students than ever. To best serve these students all year round, Lily conducts surveys to better understand the dietary restrictions and preferences of our students! Kids deserve nutritious and delicious foods that they actually like to eat. Learn more about how Lily curates these rotating, culturally-appropriate menus here.

Volunteers and visitors met the busy season head on with grace and even shared love via festive cards. Check out these morale-boosting messages:

"Ballard Food Bank, I am very appreciative of the collective outreach and services offered. This place offers healing and I don't know where I would be without this place! Thank you! Wishing everyone an enriching holiday season! With love,"

"Thank you for always being here, Volunteers, Everybody! You make such an impact not just with the good food, but also your unconditional love and may all your family and yourselves be blessed for eternity! Bright cheery spirits and smiles! With respect, honor, and dignity"

"Dear Ballard Food Bank Staff - Thank you for being such an integral part of our community. Your help and care have gotten me through some rough times. You are appreciated! P.S. Thanks for the flowers a few weeks ago!"

Finally, this past weekend, we saw the return of our beloved Tamalada - a Christmas tradition of tamale making. Café staff held a fun tamale making party on-site and our tamale team smashed it out of the park. Staff and 26 volunteers made 2,000 tamales which were served and raved about this past Monday.

As you can see, tons of things are happening at Ballard Food Bank and, as always, we couldn't do them without YOU! We are proud to organize with you, our community, around food, connection, and hope. Thank you for your dedication to our mission.

Ballard Food Bank wishes you and your loved ones a happy holiday season!