Summer Solstice Dinner at the Food Bank Rooftop!

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Thank you to all who supported the University District Food Bank and attended our beautiful Summer Solstice dinner in June! This event was an auction item from our 2021 Take A Bite Out of Hunger auction to support our Rooftop Roots program and enjoy dinner and drinks in the Food Bank’s rooftop garden.

Thank you to Cameron Catering for the providing a delicious summer menu and to Skip Tognetti of Letterpress Distilling for crafting a signature cocktail called “Paper Plane” with Letterpress Amaro, 2BAR Spirts Bourbon, Aperol, and lemon juice. Letterpress and 2BAR are also auction donors and we thank them for their ongoing support! 

Additionally, Sommelier Lee Spires provided wine for the evening including Miraval Rose, Rotation Chardonnay, Sparkman Sauvignon Blanc, and Chateau Grand Village Bordeaux.

Solstice Dinner Menu by Cameron Catering

Passed Appetizers: 

  • Endive Spear filled with Goat Cheese Mousse and Balsamic Strawberry Relish 
  • Pepita-Crusted Chicken Skewer 
  • Bing Cherry, Jalapeño and Lime Pico de Gallo
  • Polenta Cakes Topped with Romesco and a Smoky Grilled Prawn  

Buffet Dinner: 

  • Garlic-Roasted Chicken Topped with Spring Pea Pesto and Crispy Pancetta  
  • Seasonal Quinoa Vegetable Cakes – roasted vegetable and quinoa cakes served with basil aioli 
  • Spring Salad of Garden Greens and Rainbow Chard with Cherry Belle Radish, Snap Peas, Buttermilk and Garlic Chive Dressing 
  • Bull’s Blood Raw Beet Salad with University District Food Bank Spring Herbs, Toasted Almonds, and Sesame
  • Rolls and Butter  

Family Style Desserts:   

  • Chef’s Selection of Petite Desserts 
  • Miniature Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp 
  • Flourless Chocolate Cake
  • Lemoncello Madeleine

Meet Lena our Food Access Program Coordinator

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Lena Kabeshita is one of the Food Bank’s three new team members who came to us through our partnership with AmeriCorps. She joined us in October 2021 to manage our two satellite pantries at North Seattle College and Mercy Magnuson and is such an important part of the work we do for the north Seattle community!

Originally from Illinois, Lena was living and interning in Yakima before coming to Seattle. She is a recent college graduate with a major in soil and crop science and a minor in women and gender studies. 

What is your role at the Food Bank?

I am the Pantry Program Coordinator and I manage our two offsite pantries – North Seattle College on Tuesday nights and Mercy Magnuson place on Wednesday afternoons. I’m responsible for ordering food for the pantries, bringing the food over to each pantry and making sure they are running smoothly. I also coordinate 8-12 volunteers per week to help run the pantries.

Why were these satellite pantries created?

The satellite pantries pre-date the pandemic and were created to serve areas of need in North Seattle where there’s not a food bank nearby or affordable grocery stores. The North Seattle College Pantry was intended to support food insecure students at the college, but it has expanded beyond the student community and grown overall to fill a need among additional North Seattle households. In January 2022 we served 50 student households, 9 staff households, and 98 community member households. 

We purchase food specifically for these pantries each week, then set up and break down on Tuesdays and Wednesdays but each runs a little differently. North Seattle College offers prepacked food in bags and then shoppers choose their protein with a drive-through and walk-up service style. Magnuson is more of a shopping model where guests walk through and choose what they want for the week.

How many families do you serve per week? 

In January at Magnuson we served 320 households for the month and in North Seattle we served 229 households for the month. I want to give a big shout out to the volunteers who dedicate time each week to support these pantries. Their work is invaluable, and I couldn’t operate without them!

One of our regular volunteers at our Magnuson pantry passed away in February. His name was John Tuttle and he had been volunteering at Magnuson for the last year. I want to thank him for all his hard work and dedication to our cause, he will be missed by all of us.

Meet Dave, our Beloved Food Bank Greeter!

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When did you start at the Food Bank?

I started in January 2020 as a checkout person inside the Food Bank. Covid-19 hit Seattle shortly after that and we shifted operations outside. I was asked to be a greeter and chat with shoppers while they waited. It was getting to be spring, and I loved being outside with people.

Tell us about being a greeter at the Food Bank?

The people here is the best part. I know the community well now – after two years of seeing the same people our regulars become my friends. I’ve gained about 2000-3000 friends working here! When people don’t come one week, I miss them. 

I love speaking to them while they wait and keeping them company. Sometimes it’s standing in the rain for hours. I often like to walk around and sing and one of our customers says she comes just to hear me sing. 

I’ve always been a customer service-oriented person and simply enjoy talking to people. Previously I owned a construction company where I would rebuild houses for bed and breakfasts in Tacoma and Auburn. I moved to Seattle in 2011 after meeting my wife through an accidental text and phone call where we just started talking.

What do you enjoy about the Food Bank staff?

The directors have a gift when it comes to hiring and the staff fits so well together, it’s like a family.  I often am told how much I’m missed when I’m not there. The staff is so close because everyone has a common goal of making sure people’s needs are met. A lot of our shoppers are homeless and struggling, they are vulnerable and need someone to talk to. Everyone here understands that.

Every part of our team must work together because we’re dealing with so many parts that are interconnected. From food purchasing and donations to getting the food here, to the sorters who check for quality, to stalking our shelves. From there we have volunteers who shop for people and they need to be picky and not just throw things together you want the person receiving the food to enjoy it and to feed their family with pride. 

This is where volunteers come in; without them this full range of operations would not happen at the level it does. They are so appreciated. 

What else do you want people to know?

I feel like it’s my calling, to make people feel loved. Everyone has to eat, and we are here to help people from all walks of life. Our team knows how to meet people where they are without judgement, it’s been amazing to be a part of. 

Our older customers have so many stories. They talk with me and want to share and be heard, their stories are so rich. I feel honored to be a part of it.

We’re Working Towards at Healthier Planet

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We love Earth Day at the Food Bank and we’re excited to share more about what we’re doing to be kinder to our planet!

Reducing Food Waste – our Food Bank helps save perfectly good food from all over the area from going to waste through our grocery rescue programs (thanks to Peddling Relief Project for using bike power to help rescue 1000 lbs of food every week!). Grocery stores often can’t sell imperfect looking foods and we’ll gladly take those wonderful fresh fruits and veggies. We also save food like stale bread for local pig farmers. 

Electric Delivery Vans – we converted one of our gas delivery vans to 100% electric and are working on converting the second one in 2023. Big thank you to EV Works on Bainbridge Island for converting the van from gas to electric!

Rooftop Garden – growing our own fruits and veggies on the Food Bank’s rooftop provides a nearly zero-footprint supply of fresh food for our shoppers during spring, summer and fall.

Honey Bees – the honey bees we keep will allow us to harvest 50 lbs of honey this year that we can give to shoppers. They also pollinate our garden and help it thrive. How sweet!

Biodigester Composter – we’re thrilled to launch our biodigester composter this year. It will allow us to compost our own scraps on site, will generate enough energy to run our electric delivery vans off of, and will save us money by no longer paying to compost with the city.