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.
Read MoreWe’re grateful to have Geeta McCormack as a Ballard Food Bank board member since the beginning of 2020. Geeta has lived in the Ballard/Broadview area for over 20 years with her husband Chris, daughter Maya, and their two dogs Cassie and Lily.
Read MoreBallard Food Bank is excited to work with Seattle-based architects Graham Baba to create our amazing new home, set to open in fall 2021. For the past two years, we’ve collaborated closely with a team led by Partners Jim Graham and Brian Jonas. If you live in Seattle and enjoy food, you’ve probably experienced Graham Baba’s amazing architecture in PCC Community Markets, Melrose Market, and many beloved restaurants including Trailbend Taproom, Westward, Osteria La Spiga, and more. We were attracted to the team’s deep expertise in how people interact with food—and each other. Jim and Brian recently shared their thoughts on the new Ballard Food Bank building and their efforts to make it a welcoming home for everyone in the community.
Read MoreAmazon has provided grants totaling $500,000 for the Hope Beyond Hunger capital campaign to support our future home—scheduled to open in fall 2021—plus $250,000 to support innovative programming for families and children in need. We are also jointly exploring how Amazon’s employees can bolster the 190-person volunteer force that fuels our operations.
Read MoreWith COVID, we have been asked to stay home, wear masks, and take care of one another. It has been a year for all of us to find new ways to reconnect and dig deep within ourselves to find strength and hope. It has also been a time that calls us to resist fear and be brave in our actions; stand up when we hear hate speech or see violence; engage in conversations with one another around race; and work to address inequity, so that we build a community where everyone has opportunity.
Read MoreWhat does it mean to “go beyond”? Volunteers and staff at Ballard Food Bank might all have very different answers to that question. For volunteer Debbie Lam, finding her “going beyond” came from a Google search. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Debbie, a small business owner, was faced with a lull in her business and a growing feeling inside that she needed something more meaningful in her life – a way to help.
Read MoreBallard Food Bank’s work is personal to me. This isn’t something I talk about every day, but I had a single mom and times were tough sometimes. When you experience food insecurity at some point in your life, you don’t forget it. It’s been important to me to do what I can so that other families have enough food.
Read MoreA few weeks ago I was incredibly honored to be accepted to the Georgetown University School of Medicine Class of 2025. The school was my dream program and to be able to transform that once distant prospect into a future reality still feels ethereal. At the epicenter of Georgetown’s clinical philosophy is cura personalis - care for the whole person. This ethos transcends medicine and can be instilled across all acts of social service. Applying a holistic lens to my work has been an endeavor I’ve tried to uphold throughout my experience at Ballard Food Bank.
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