Community Partner Spotlight: Ballard Food Bank
November 4, 2025
SAL is excited to spotlight our community partner Ballard Food Bank, a community hub and resource center. Ballard Food Bank will be tabling in the lobby at our event with Padma Lakshmi at Benaroya Hall on November 18 where they will be accepting donations. Read on for their list of most needed items, and to learn more about their essential work!
What are we seeing at Ballard Food Bank right now? More of our neighbors walking through our doors seeking out their basic needs.
Amidst the government shutdown, SNAP benefits being withheld, federal funding changes, and more, we are deeply concerned about the shrinking social safety net. In 2019-2020, during the uncertainty and anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had 69,483 total shopping visits and deliveries for the year. For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, we saw that number jump to 127,212. That’s an 83% increase.
At this moment, more of our neighbors are uncertain about where their next meal is coming from. We are seeing more folks relying increasingly on community care and their local food banks to put food on the table.
We are here for our neighbors in these uncertain times. Ballard Food Bank’s mission is to bring food and hope to our neighbors…because there can be enough for everyone.
To achieve this mission, we provide access to nutritious food through our free Community Market which is designed to feel just like a regular grocery store, with choices built into each step in the process. Folks can choose the produce they prefer, grab the milk alternatives they or a family member might need, hygiene products they’re running low on and more! Our Home Delivery program works to bring these groceries directly to our neighbors’ front doors if they can’t make it to the food bank due to transportation access, disability, childcare constraints, or any other reason. The Weekend Food for Kids program bridges the nutrition gap for kiddos over the weekend and offers Seattle Public School students with 3 dinners, 2 lunches, 2 breakfasts, and snacks including fresh produce.
We also keep expanding our food sources to bring in more. Food Access Senior Manager Ysabel Diaz manages our harvesting program which has already brought in significantly more pounds of fresh produce than last year. Still, as we continue to scale while also facing further inflation, we have to make choices – sometimes difficult ones – about what food to purchase. Sometimes having to pivot our spending to less expensive items that can stretch for more people.
We often say Ballard Food Bank is beyond food and beyond Ballard. If you’ve been part of the Ballard Food Bank community for a while, you already know – food is just the beginning. It’s not just about getting meals on tables, it’s about creating a place where people feel connected, respected, and seen.
We also host the Community Resource Hub, where partner organizations offer a range of services like housing, medical care, and veterans’ benefits – all under one roof. People travel from all over King County because they know they can rely on our organization to provide basic needs like nutritious food, resource connection and navigation.
Services like Home Delivery, Weekend Food For Kids, and emergency financial assistance help bring food and stabilizing supports to neighbors who live in our service area. Our financial assistance program helps prevent homelessness through eviction prevention. Clients also have access to utility assistance, identification vouchers, and our mail program.
We know that a comprehensive approach helps us meet our neighbors where they’re at. A hub client shared this message with us earlier this year: “I just want to say thank you. I just received my State ID in the mail and I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude. I only have this ID because of Ballard Food Bank’s assistance with the cost of State ID, which in no way I could’ve afforded…You guys have allowed us to have food to eat, move around (with ORCA Lift), and get an ID, everything that is essential to slowly helping us back on our feet.
I’m truly grateful and can’t thank you enough for having been gracious and kind, not just to my family, but to also every patron I saw at the Food Bank. I hope you guys will continue to be the light in many many many hard days of everyone’s lives.
I’m finishing up school to be a CNA and I hope I can pay forward the kindness to my future patients. I’m just so overwhelmed with gratitude and I just want you to know you guys have truly left a positive mark in my life.”
Through this combination of services and food, we help our most vulnerable neighbors meet their basic needs during these uncertain times. And while social safety programs are stalled, we will continue to be a hub for hope for our neighbors.
List of Ballard Food Bank essential items—DONATE at Padma Lakshmi!
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- Pasta and rice
- Canned meat
- Peanut butter and jelly
- Canned vegetables, fruit, and beans
- Side dishes (mac & cheese, ramen, Rice-A-Roni)
- Soup
- Cereal and oats