Ysabel and Jen talk all things Ballard Food Bank on 103.7FM’s Bre in the Morning

In April, our Food Access Coordinator, Ysabel Diaz, along with our Executive Director, Jen Muzia, took to the airwaves for an interview on 103.7FM’s Bre in the Morning show, telling listeners about why Ballard Food Bank is so important to them and our community and how people can support our new home. We’ve featured a few of our favorite moments from the interview in this post, and you can listen to the whole segment below.

Photo: Ysabel Diaz at the food bank.

BRE: How did you get involved with Ballard Food Bank?

YSABEL: I've been on the team since September. So, I only know life during the pandemic here, but I've worked in food systems and their different aspects for a long time now. And before this, I was working on a small farm in Snohomish. I just think that one thing that the pandemic has showed us is that community care and community support is what's going to get us through difficult times now and going forward. Having an opportunity to help my community was very attractive. So, it's been great to join the Ballard team.

BRE: Why did you choose Ballard Food Bank of all the food banks in the Seattle area?

YSABEL: I think that Ballard has a unique position in the neighborhood in the sense that there's a ton of resources where we are. Luckily, we have a lot of grocery stores that we can partner with to get resources to clients. Not only do we provide food resources, but we also provide financial assistance to folks and ID vouchers to people. At Ballard Food Bank we don’t just do food—there is intersectionality here that drew me to the Ballard Food Bank specifically.

BRE: So, Ballard Food Bank isn’t your ordinary food bank, it sounds like there are other services too—can you talk more about that?

YSABEL: We have a drive thru service right now during the pandemic for folks to safely come in. Before COVID, there was a grocery style shopping area, for clients to select their own foods. Beyond our drive thru and grocery store model, we offer a home delivery service. For folks who don't feel comfortable during the pandemic to come through the drive thru or maybe don't have access to a vehicle, we're able to provide a customized bag of food that fits their dietary needs, their cultural needs, and any particular preferences. So, if you're vegan, if you're diabetic, if you only eat halal meat—we’re able to customize bags and get them to you with our awesome volunteer crew. They’ll take it from the food bank, and deliver it straight to your door.

We also work with the Seattle Public Schools getting weekend food bags to kids. Each week, on Fridays, school partners come and pick up bags for kids that identify as needing that assistance. The program provides meals for them throughout the weekend with a big emphasis on healthy foods and as much fresh fruit as possible.

BRE: How far in the Seattle area does Ballard Food Bank deliver to?

YSABEL: We deliver to North West Seattle. This includes Crown Hill, Greenwood neighborhoods, down to South Lake Union, Queen Anne, Magnolia, and then to the border of Fremont and Green Lake, as well as Ballard. We are able to get food directly to those folks in these areas.

BRE: How can the community come out and help support your new building and home? Do we help build, do we help donate? What else can we do?

Photo: Jen Muzia and BFB staff touring the construction site of our new home.

JEN: Our community is amazing, and they really helped us get through. People have been so supportive of food banks in general, making sure the food banks have services and can provide food to their neighbors. For us right now, we're really asking people to get involved. If they're able to financially support our new home, they can visit our website at BallardFoodBank.org. There they can learn about how to donate to our new home and our new building and help that come to fruition. But we also always remind people that they can get involved as volunteers or they can donate food in kind—there are so many ways to support your local food bank!

YSABEL: If folks want to volunteer their time, we do have a volunteer orientation every Monday at 5pm at our building. There is a wide array of volunteer activities that people can join in on. If folks don't feel comfortable being in the building right now, with the given the pandemic, we also have the driver volunteers. For this opportunity, we meet you in the parking lot, and you're dropping the food off at people's doorsteps so it's really low contact, trying to keep this as safe as possible. Also, if you want to get in the action, if you want to be packing the food, if you want to be sorting the produce that we get from different stores or from Northwest Harvest or from in kind donations—you can! We need help in the warehouse as well. Whatever your level of comfort is, we have a spot for you!

And that’s a wrap! We are so grateful for all the incredible work that Ysabel and Jen do for our Ballard Food Bank family. Support the building of our new hub for food and hope here.