West Seattle Food Bank

Mission

West Seattle Food Bank strengthens the community through the power of neighbors helping neighbors, working to ensure all in our community have access to the essential necessities of living.

Description

The West Seattle Food Bank has been serving this community since 1983 when local volunteers started distributing food to families in need. For over 30 years, we worked side by side with our neighborhood partner, West Seattle Helpline, to help improve the lives of our neighbors in our community. In 2019, our organizations decided to merge in order to increase our capacity and impact in our community. Together, we provide access to food, clothing, emergency rent and utility assistance, bus tickets, connections to community resources, and other essential services for thousands of our neighbors in the West Seattle neighborhood.

We serve over 12,700 individuals each year (including 4,500 children and 1,700 seniors) by providing quality food through our shopping style distribution. In addition, our Mobile Food Bank delivers groceries to homebound elderly individuals and individuals with disabilities. Our Helpline services provide emergency financial assistance to over 1,000 community members each year to prevent homelessness, imminent evictions, and utility shut-offs. Our Backpack Program provides school children as risk of hunger with 6 kid-friendly meals for the weekend. The Clothesline, our free clothing bank, provides basic attire, professional wear, hygiene products, and school clothing for over 1,500 neighbors and their families. We also distribute diapers, formula, furniture and other accessories through our Baby & Child Corner, 25,000 pounds of pet food through our Pet Pantry, and provide books through our Bookcase program. We provide free bus tickets to ensure neighbors' transportation to school, work, the food bank, medical appointments, and more. Our Community Connector helps families access additional referrals to services from dozens of partner agencies.

Through the power of neighbors helping neighbors, we can stop hunger and homelessness in our community.