12736 33rd Avenue NESeattle, WA 98125

1

4

S P R I N G 2018 N E W S L E T T E R

S P R I N G 2018 N E W S L E T T E R

SAVE THE DATE!

GiveBIG Online

Fundraiser

5/9/18

Think of North Helpline

and donate during

giveBIG, a one-day

online giving campaign

to raise funds for local

nonprofits. Early giving

starts April 26th. Visit

givebigseattle.org and

schedule a donation.

Seattle Beer Week 2018

5/10/18 - 5/20/18

This year at Seattle

Beer Week, a special

beer will benefit

North Helpline! Join

us at these locations:

Hellbent, Watershed, The

Beer Authority, Cooper’s

Ale House, Elliott Bay

Brewing Company,

Fiddler’s Inn, The

Growler Guys, Korochka

Tavern, and Last Drop

Bottle Shop.

NEW BREW BENEFITS NORTH HELPLINE

GETTING HELP AND GIVING BACK

The 10th annual Seattle Beer Week is May 10-20, and a special beer will benefit North Helpline. Drink a pint for a good cause! Hellbent Brewing Company and Watershed Pub & Kitchen are collaborating on the GateCity IPA. Named after the combination of Northgate and Lake City, it is only fitting that his beer will only be released in North Seattle. $1 from every pint will be donated to North Helpline.

During Seattle Beer Week, North Helpline will host a gathering at each of the locations that serve GateCity IPA. There will be prizes, swag, and shenanigans.

Join us at Hellbent, Watershed, The Beer Authority, Cooper’s Ale House, Elliott Bay Brewing Company, Fiddler’s Inn, The Growler Guys, Korochka Tavern, and Last Drop Bottle Shop. We are so honored and thankful to be a part of such an awesome and vibrant community.

After a successful pub crawl last November, Mason is excited to continue the tradition of building community over drinks and fun. People who support the work of making sure our neighbors have food on the table and a roof overhead also like to have a good time celebrating with their community.

Owners of the Watershed Ben and Kelsey say, “We’ve been in Northeast Seattle forever. Part of the plan, before we even had a plan, was to use the business as a vessel to give back. We opened The ‘Shed as a neighbourhood pub and we rely on our community to support us, it only seems natural that we support them as well.”

Darren is a longtime Lake City resident who is able to get help from his neighbors at North Helpline, and he also gives back. Over the years, he has been in and out of the hospital due to a complicated type of asthma. He said, “There is nothing worse than not being able to breathe.”

Times were hard. Darren got a disability determination, but financial assistance had not yet arrived. He fell behind on his rent, and he feared losing his apartment. His family helped the best they could, and then he turned to North Helpline. Darren said, “North Helpline helped me pay my rent, because I didn’t have money.”

“Because of you, I was able to keep my housing.”

Darren never became homeless thanks to resources from his family and North Helpline. “A lot of people don’t have a family. When I meet people who are homeless, they are on their own. North Helpline becomes like their family, and you are part of my family too.”

Over the years, Darren has visited the food bank regularly. Then something special happened. He started doing community service, because he had a couple of tickets. Once he got involved in volunteering, he realized he really liked it. Now he does everything that his health will allow him to do. He said, “I try to pass it on.”

“This is a great place, and I love being part of my community.”

Growing up, Darren knew he always wanted to work with people. Serving others at North Helpline gave his life positive meaning. “I always tell people who are less fortunate than me that you have many resources that can help. I tell them to go to North Helpline.”

“Volunteering here was a huge positive step in my life.”

When Darren volunteers, he serves many roles. Since his goal is to help other people, he responds to what his neighbors need as well as filling in where there are fewer volunteers on a given day. Here are a few examples of how Darren contributes.

• Running the carts• Sorting and re-stocking• Serving in the food bank distribution line• Assisting Jeremy around the warehouse• Reception/Front desk

32 S P R I N G 2018 N E W S L E T T E R S P R I N G 2018 N E W S L E T T E R

WELCOME KHRISTINE! STAY IN TOUCH

Facebook.com/ north.helpline

Twitter.com/ NorthHelpline

Instagram @northhelpline

northhelpline.org

CONNECTING FAMILIES TO HOUSING KELLY’S KORNER

WE LOVE OUR VOLUNTEERS

VOLUNTEERS CONT’D

Please join us in welcoming Khristine Cancio, our new Communications and Outreach AmeriCorps VISTA. Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, Khristine graduated from the University of the Philippines Diliman with a degree in economics and a special interest in development and political economy. She is excited to get to know her new home and serve the community. Her hobbies include reading books, analyzing films, playing the piano, and documenting all her travels through video and photography.

Khristine previously worked for United Way of King County as a Fuel Your Future AmeriCorps Member, implementing the Breakfast After the Bell Program and promoting the Summer

Food Invasion Campaign in high needs schools and communities across South King County. Helping alleviate hunger and increasing access to resources across communities is her passion, leading her to continue the work at North Helpline.

A major benefit to serving people at our food banks is that we are able to meet people where they are, not just for food, but for many other needs as well, including housing. Here are two stories of our neighbors who are no longer homeless.

Starting last summer, Maya came to North Helpline because she had become homeless. An Emergency Services volunteer gave her a sheet of paper with phone numbers to find housing. One of the phone numbers Maya received was for our partner Solid Ground. She joined the rapid rehousing program, but Maya struggled to match program requirements with her life situation. The process was challenging for her, but she hung in there.

While waiting for housing, Maya bought an RV and lived in it with her son all winter. Not only did she take care of her son, she also stayed in school getting her college degree in social services. This spring she graduated.Last month, Maya was both happy and relieved to get the phone call that she received an affordable housing unit here in North Seattle.

Maya moved into her new home in April. When she stopped by North Helpline to share the good news, Maya also asked for referrals from the Emergency Services volunteers as to where she can find furniture. We were able to provide her with numbers to call for assistance. She said, “You helped me find housing. You are doing more than just giving people lunch.”

Another one of our neighbors Amy recently found housing! She stopped by to share the good news with our Community Connector Melanie, because the two of them had worked

I have some exciting news to share! We applied to the Boeing Employee Community Fund for a new van to replace one of our aging grocery rescue vehicles. A few days after they toured our facility, we received a call from one of their board members. Not only are they funding our application, but they are granting us double what we asked for so that we can purchase two vans!

Our new vans will be driven by volunteers to pick up groceries from our grocery rescue partners: Albertsons, Amazon Prime, Central Market, Fred Meyer, Metropolitan Market, Safeway, Target, PCC, Trader Joe’s, and QFC.

We are still working to address the closure of Sam’s Club and the loss of food they donated.

There is work to be done. Some good news is we found a few new additions for our Grocery Rescue partner list Albertson’s on Aurora and an Amazon Prime Now warehouse are new contributors to our Grocery Rescue program. Both are a great source of produce and help fill some of the gap left now that Sam’s Club has closed.

Please sign up to be a Neighborhood Hero and increase our food purchasing budget! Join our monthly giving program today! Your monthly support will make it possible for us to buy well-balanced healthy food to nourish our neighbors in need. Visit our website northhelpline.org or contact Ben@northhelpline.org to become a monthly donor.

April is volunteer appreciation month at North Helpline, and we feel like shouting from the rooftops about how much we love our volunteers. North Helpline has always been driven by people like you. Volunteers serve multiple roles in our two food banks and in our emergency services program. In 2017, North Helpline had 1,687 volunteers, serving 36,446 hours, equal to 17 full time staff. Amazing, isn’t it? Here’s an overview of the many roles volunteers fulfill.

Board of DirectorsNorth Helpline’s board members commit their time and skills in countless ways. Special thanks to each of them: board chair Patrick Bradshaw, Julie Greenberg, secretary Nikki Hurley, John

homeless neighbors, which they can receive every day we are open. Also, all of our neighbors can come to North Helpline for lunch.

In addition, volunteers with the Emergency Services program assist with operating the baby cupboard, distributing hygiene packs, toilet paper, laundry soap and ID replacements.

Grocery RescueOur grocery rescue volunteers are another highly dedicated group. Nearly half of our food comes from grocery rescue, a program that collects goods that are approaching expiration or

Keating, Diana Koala, Dominica Myers, vice chair Aric Skurdal, treasurer Sid Thatte, and Colleen Woolsey.

Emergency ServicesFour days a week in our Lake City location, dedicated volunteers run the Emergency Services program that helps our neighbors keep a roof overhead and meet their basic needs. In 2017, volunteers helped 109 families receive $17,592 for eviction prevention. Another 110 families received $18,464 for avoiding utility shut off.

As we celebrate those who are able to stay in their homes, we also respond to the need of our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness. Our volunteers and staff give no-cook bags to our

otherwise unsaleable from 15 grocery stores throughout North Seattle. Volunteers drive our vehicles to various stores, pick up food, and deliver it to North Helpline.

Food SortingWhen food arrives to the warehouse, volunteers weigh,

One of the reasons we continue to celebrate the passage of Breakfast after the Bell is that it ensures children always have a chance to eat at the start of their school day. In the summertime, Summer Food Invasion provides lunch and snacks that kids would normally get during the school year. The summer program helps keep the cost of food affordable for families.

Khristine and Mckenna recently went to the Lake City Community Center Open House. Khristine represented North Helpline, and Mckenna talked about Hunger Intervention Program (HIP), where she serves on the board. HIP runs the summer food program in Lake City, so Khristine and Mckenna are sure to continue collaborating in all sorts of ways.

track, and sort food into categories including produce, meat, dairy and juice, pastries, shelf-stable goods, and more. In 2017, we received and distributed over 1.6 million pounds of food. Needless to say, it takes a lot of volunteers to sort such a high volume of food!

Distribution at the Food BanksIn 2017, volunteers at our two food banks served 1700 people per week. The food bank in Lake City is open three days a week, and the Bitter Lake food bank is open every Saturday. Each time the food bank is open, dozens of volunteers help the food bank run smoothly, ensuring our neighbors have plenty of nutritious food to eat. In addition to welcoming people to the food bank, volunteers help people check in, pick items, load and unload groceries.

Home DeliveryVolunteers deliver groceries to just over 40 households to people with physical limitations that make it a challenge to come to the food bank. In preparing the boxes of food for each family, our home delivery volunteers keep track of dietary restrictions to make sure our neighbors receive the kind of high quality food they need.

There are many other ways in which volunteers support the work to make sure our neighbors have food on the table and a roof overhead. We’d like to give special shout out to Jean Larson, who has volunteered with North Helpline since 1989. Jean’s consistent service to our neighbors sets an incredible example for the rest of us to follow!

Khristine is happy to be carrying on the role of making sure kids are fed here at North Helpline. Currently, our communications team is reaching out to schools in greater North Seattle. Our aim is to raise awareness of North Helpline to serve more families. In particular, we want our neighbors to know about our second food bank in Bitter Lake that is open every week.

together. Melanie’s role is part of a pilot program through the city of Seattle. Anybody that comes to the food bank can meet with Melanie to receive referrals to multiple services, including basic necessities and housing information. Our neighbors also receive referrals and resources from the Emergency Services program here at North Helpline.

After Amy found housing, she gave Melanie a small dinosaur with the note, “I counted on you! Thank you.” She also took a rock from North Helpline to keep in her new home and remember that her community is there for her.

Through our Community Connector and referrals from our Emergency Services program, our neighbors have an easier time navigating the challenges to find housing.

Finding housing is not easy. There is a reason we are calling it an affordable housing crisis. Melanie is quick to point out, “There are many people who ask for my help finding housing who have not yet found a home. It can be heartbreaking to see how limited resources are compared to the need.”