For nearly four decades, University District Food Bank has helped prevent hunger in Northeast Seattle neighborhoods. Each week, more than 1,300 different families receive the groceries they need to prepare nutritionally balanced meals at home.
In July 2016, after an incredible history at University Christian Church, we moved into a purpose built new home co-located with 49 units of affordable housing operated by LIHI and YouthCare, a job skills training café operated by Street Bean, and an amazing rooftop garden where we grow produce for the food bank.
Last year, we had over 68,000 customer visits and distributed 3.1 million pounds of food.
Approximately 19% of our customers are infants and children, 63% are adults, and 18% are senior citizens. 17% of our customers are homeless and we try to provide them with ready-to-eat foods when they visit the food bank.
Our home delivery program reaches another 200 home-bound customers every week. Our backpack program, at 13 nearby schools, provides almost 600 kids with meals and snacks for the weekend when school meals aren’t available.
Our two off site food pantries located at Mercy Magnuson Place and North Seattle College provide another 380 households food.
Two-thirds of our food bank households have at least one person working at a job full time but rely on the food bank to help save a few dollars to use for other monthly expenses. One-third of food bank customers report looking for additional employment.
