Food Lifeline

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Nonprofit Overview

Causes: Food, Food Banks & Pantries, Food Programs

Mission: Food Lifeline has been addressing hunger in Western Washington for over 40 years. We work to both fill the immediate needs of people facing hunger through providing access to food and to reduce systemic food insecurity by creating long-term solutions that focus on the root causes of hunger, including poverty, gender discrimination, and structural racism. We are driven by a belief in food justice, the idea that everyone has the right to equitable access to nutritious and culturally relevant foods. We provide nutritious food to millions of people facing hunger in our service area every year. Food Lifeline sources millions of pounds of donated fresh and shelf-stable food from farmers, manufacturers, wholesalers, grocers, restaurants, and retail locations. Volunteers inspect and repack this food, and we distribute the foods through our partner agencies and our own programs. Food Lifeline works with a network of 296 food banks, shelters, and meal programs that serve people throughout our service area, from the heart of urban Seattle to rural coastal and island communities. Through the work we do with our agency partners, we are able to distribute hundreds of thousands of meals every day to over 1.6 million people across our 17-county service area who don't always have enough to eat. In everything we do, we center people living with food insecurity. In recognition of their resilience and dignity, we focus on elevating their stories and their lived experience, and support community-based solutions to end hunger. We work with all people who have been oppressed, including those marginalized on the basis of race, ethnicity, citizenship or immigration status, socioeconomic status, gender identity, age, disability, and housing security. We believe that the solutions that effectively address hunger and poverty are those that are mindful of the intersectional nature of these crises.

Community Stories

3 Stories from Volunteers, Donors & Supporters

historianerrant Professional with expertise in this field

Rating: 1

04/01/2023

They talk a good talk, but it's a horrible place internally. Out of 100 employees, more than half are managers/directors, with not enough people to actually do the work. Hourly employees are forced to work unpaid overtime off the clock every week, while managers take extended leave and disappear for months at a time. Extremely caustic inter-departmental relations. Employees here are forbidden from talking to HR about their managers, though HR is well aware of all of this.

1

Loribirtly Volunteer

Rating: 5

11/08/2010

Food Lifeline distributes food to 300 food banks, meal, programs and shelters in Western Washington to help end hunger. Their volunteer opportunities are marvelous with weekly community volunteer nights, family days, and special activities. They are one of the few non-profits who welcome kid volunteers as young as six. I've been volunteering with Food Lifeline for more than ten years and always feel inspired and motivated by the experience.

6

kadibear General Member of the Public

Rating: 5

12/21/2009

I have been involved with Food Lifeline for more than a year now--helping out with events, volunteering, and just learning about who they are and what they do. It's an incredible organization that often goes unnoticed. Food Lifeline helps feed more than 675,000 people each year, and for every $1 donation you give, they can turn it into 4 meals! I know that they get wait-lists for volunteer groups because the volunteer experience is like no other. You get to sort HUGE bins of apples, or you can sort food drive food on a conveyor belt and lots more. The whole time you're doing that, you're learning about the people you're helping--the people who visit the nearly 300 food banks, shelters and meal programs Food Lifeline serves.

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