ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS

We began in the mid-1970s as an emergency response to assist struggling families and individuals in the greater White Center and Highline areas during a major economic downturn. Much like today, many in the community faced difficult economic conditions that left them needing food resources.

In 1982 the White Center Emergency Food Association was formally incorporated and is today known as the White Center Food Bank. White Center as a geographic area has been subject to many changes in its micro-economic climate from influxes and growth of various immigrant groups to periods of rebirth in its business core.

You may be aware of our main food bank location, but not all of our community assistance comes from our main grocery store distribution. In addition to our onsite daytime and senior-only distributions, our programming includes; expanded home deliveries; a Mobile Food Bank Program for seniors and those who may be unable to visit the foodbank; a Baby Pantry for diapers, formula, baby foods, and more; a cultural food buying program, and grocery rescue. Intake services are provided in nine languages, English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Khmer/Cambodian, Shanghainese, and Chaozhou.

In 2023 we served 37,522 family visits and provided access to 1,446,726 pounds of food. This is an average of 167 families served per day and about 652 per week. Since we have opened our new facility, we are seeing more new customers each day!

Mobile Food Banks

Access to the food bank can be difficult for those with mobility issues. Currently, we run mobile food banks at three retirement or low-income housing facilities, and we are working to secure the opportunity at a fourth. Through this program, we provide food to nearly 200 homes each month.

Twice a month we load up one of our vans and deliver food items to teams of local volunteers from the retirement communities themselves. We help them get set up and we work together to provide a compressed version of our grocery store model to the residents of their communities. Currently, we provide a mobile food bank at Nia, Arrowhead, and Joseph House here in White Center.

Sattelite Pantries

In an attempt to reach families who may not be able to get to us during the week, we have created connections with some local schools and medical facilities to provide food pantries that provide a food access point in places our community already visit.

Our partnerships with New Start High School, South Seattle College, and White Center Heights Elementary provide them with food they keep onsite to support families in need. These are run with the help of volunteers from these schools and are accessible to students and their families.

We also work with three local Sea Mar medical clinics to provide healthy food options they might not have access to. As clinicians and doctors work with patients, they may learn that patients are struggling to provide enough food for their families, and if so, they can refer them to pick up healthy food from the pantry before heading home. Along with general guidance on healthy foods, patients are screened for food insecurity issues, and should they need additional access to food they are directed to our food bank.

Home Delivery

Meeting folks at home is an important tool for our organization as it makes sure our community is supported with the food they need and deserve. Unfortunately, not everyone is mobile enough to make it to our facility or one of the food pantries that we support so we have found ways to meet folks at the next best place, their homes. We currently offer home delivery two days a week that provide over 5000lbs of food to about 140 homes each month.

Bicycle Delivery

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many bike riders were stuck working from home and wanting to get out on their bikes again, but they also wanted to support the community. A group of neighbors connected with us and so now, with the help of food bank volunteers and volunteers from the Cascade Bicycle Club’s Pedaling Relief Project, we have been running a home delivery program that continues to grow. Every Thursday, a team of volunteers helps pack grocery bags and then local bicycle enthusiasts take them to our customers rain or shine!

United Way - Door Dash Partnership

During the COVID-19 pandemic, United Way of King County was looking for ways to meet the needs of folks in and around our area and they reached out with a special partnership with DoorDash as DoorDash was seeking work for their drivers since many restaurants were closed. We have continued this program today and United Way connects us with customers in need, and supplies DoorDash drivers, while we supply the food. Every Monday our volunteer team packs bags of food that are delivered to customers via DoorDash.

Baby Pantry

Not only do we work to provide food to our community, we also provide childcare supplies for those who need them in an effort to support families who visit our facility. In partnership with Westside Baby, we offer families diapers and formula monthly. In addition, we can also order clothing, car seats and other baby items for customers to pick up at the food bank on their next visit. This program is organized and run by our Baby Pantry Coordinator Gabby and is 100% donation driven with assistance from Westside Baby.

Each month we support about 216 families gain access to these necessary early life items. Our new facility was built with this program in mind, and we now have additional storage space for these items in a place that is easily accessible to folks right when they walk in the door.

Sourcing Community Partnerships

In 2016, we launched a partnership with support from White Center Community Development Association with three family owned local food markets:, Samway Market, Lee’s Market, and Hung Long Asian Market. We offer $5 gift certificates once a month to our customers so that they can purchase fresh produce from these local grocery stores. All of these grocers offer culturally relevant produce for many cultures that we may not be able to offer regularly onsite, gets customers out in the business community and supporting our local family-owned businesses in White Center.