OUR ONGOING COVID-19 RESPONSE

At the start of July 2021, Governor Inslee lifted many of the important restrictions in place to help control the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in our community. With increases in vaccination rates statewide, and a declining number of infections, these changes were inline with national public health guidance. However, businesses and nonprofits were ultimately encouraged and directed to keep their customers safe. As a result, much of our operations remain unchanged from the past year and a half.

While we have begun the significant work to plan for our eventual store reopening, we will continue to provide walk-up services, our weekly satellite pantries at Magnuson Park and North Seattle College, and home delivery.

CHANGES IN OPERATIONS

FOOD BANK: We have suspended shopping inside our space. Instead, we offer personal shopping done by small teams of trained volunteers. Our volunteers collect your food preferences and dietary restrictions then build bags of food customized to your wants and needs. We realize that this is not ideal but it is necessary at this time as we maintain public health protocols and work to keep our community safe.

Please be aware of signs explaining where to queue, where to check-in, and how to collect your food.

  • If you are sick please do not come to the food bank. Ask a friend, family member, caregiver, or neighbor to come in your place.
  • Masks are still required. You must wear a mask at check-in and when collecting your groceries. We can provide you a mask if you don’t have one.
  • Customers will check-in at the Street Bean Cafe next to the library lawn.
  • Look for apple logos painted on the sidewalk to help guide where to stand.
  • Please maintain a 6′ distance from those around you. 
  • While you wait to check-in, we will provide you a shopping list to record your specific food preferences. Please list any dietary restrictions and allergies that you have. Look for the daily special board to see what extra items we have that day.
  • We will distribute groceries to you from our front doors.
  • When we are busy, it can take 10-20 minutes to assemble your bag of food. Feel free to walk around the block while you wait or join our waitlist program and we can text you when your groceries are ready.
  • While you wait, please keep the sidewalk in front of our store front clear for pedestrians.
  • While you wait, please maintain a 6′ distance from those around you. We need your help keeping our space safe for everyone.
  • Please don’t park in the nearby lots at Scarecrow Video or Planned Parenthood. These are not our lots. Please don’t park in the bike lane. Park legally on the street.
  • We really appreciate your patience and understanding.

HOME DELIVERY: If you are a resident of our service area (zip codes 98102, 98103, 98105, 98112, 98115, and 98125) and are not able to come to the food bank because you are a member of an at-risk group, have household members who are at risk, or if you are currently under quarantine, you can join our home delivery program. Please learn more and enroll here.

MAIL: This service is still available. You can pickup your mail from the window where we distribute groceries. If you are only picking up mail go to the pickup station with your ID and ask for mail. If you need to enroll in mail service then please ask the staff person at check-in.

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS: If you need to support accessing other community services or programs such as SNAP or UDP then please email our Community Connector at liliya@udistrictfoodbank.org. We are currently hiring our next Community Connector, but we will do our best to support your needs in the interim.

DONATIONS: We are accepting and in need of your donations. If you have donations please bring them to the food bank at 5017 Roosevelt Way NE and enter through the garage. Nonperishable items can be placed in the red barrels just inside the garage on the left side. Perishable items should be given directly to food bank staff.

High need items include:

  • any hygiene/sanitary products (toilet paper, tampons/pads, bar soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes and toothpaste, razors, and shaving cream),
  • diapers, especially sizes 4-6 for infants and adult diapers
  • shelf stable dairy and dairy alternatives
  • pantry staples (cooking oil, spices, flour, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, masa, corn meal)
  • canned foods (soups, protein, and fruit items)
  • grains (rice, pasta, couscous, quinoa) and cereals
  • handled paper grocery bags
  • clean egg cartons

Monetary donations are always appreciated and are very useful for ensuring that our shelves remain well stocked.

VOLUNTEERS: We need more volunteers now than ever before. Community support through COVID has been incredible, but it takes more people helping in order to provide all our services today. Learn more and apply to be a volunteer. We offer monthly virtual orientation programs to help you learn more about our operations, though you don’t need to attend one before starting your first shift. If you can’t commit to a regular schedule, we also have a “Sub List” where weekly open shifts are listed for your short term consideration.

Please follow us on our website and social medias, Twitter: @UDistFoodBank Facebook: @UDistrictFoodBank Instagram: @udistrictfoodbank as we continue to post updates.

Through this pandemic, we want to remain an important resource for our community. We hope these service changes can help us sustain our operations for you. Thank you.