This article was first published on the website of the Seattle Food Committee, which is staffed by Solid Ground.

Four years ago, when the COVID pandemic first struck, thousands of Seattle families were suddenly unable to make their weekly trip to the neighborhood food bank, which for many meant not having to choose between skipping a meal and coming up short on rent.

Seattle’s network of food banks had to rapidly rethink how they did their work, coming up with new and creative ways to get food to people unable to leave their own homes. To meet the rapidly growing need, the Seattle Food Committee worked with Solid Ground and King County Metro to put its fleet of ACCESS paratransit buses into service transporting groceries instead of people. Similarly, United Way of King County (UWKC) partnered with DoorDash to deliver food directly to families’ front doors. 

That quick action and collaboration kept folks fed during the most dire and isolating moments of the pandemic, but it also highlighted another reality: Even before COVID, many people in Seattle who struggled to get enough food weren’t able to make it to a food bank because of disabilities, work hours, family obligations, and other obstacles.  

But suddenly, thanks to the pandemic, they had an option for getting the food they needed. 

“I did not expect we’d still be running home delivery four years later,” says Sara Seelmeyer, UWKC Associate Director for Ending Hunger. “But what we learned is a lot of people really valued the program for reasons beyond just COVID safety.” 

Food stability at your doorstep 

Not only have many Seattle food banks continued to offer home delivery as the danger of the pandemic has waned, some have expanded their programs and are innovating new ways to serve people who are unable to come in person.  

UWKC, which continues to partner with 12 Seattle food banks to provide delivery services through DoorDash, coordinated more than 56,000 home deliveries in the city in 2023 alone, serving nearly 1,700 households. Many food banks now have a waitlist for home delivery. 

“Someone called last week just to say thank you. He said this program saved his life – that without it he wouldn’t have been able to eat the last few years.”

~Chloe Finkenbine, RVFB Home Delivery Program Coordinator 

Here’s how it works: Anyone who’s unable to go to the food bank for any reason can contact UWKC or their neighborhood food bank and fill out a form with information about their family size, dietary restrictions, cultural preferences, and any needs for home essentials, like diapers, baby food, and hygiene items.  

Every week or every other week, neighborhood food bank staff and volunteers pack customized boxes with fresh produce, meat, dry goods, and more – depending on what’s available – while trying their best to accommodate each household’s preferences. They then hand the box over to a DoorDash or volunteer driver, who delivers it directly to the family’s front door. 

“We want each box to have a balance, and we want it to last a full week,” says Leon Forde, Market Coordinator at Byrd Barr Place. 

A different way to provide food access 

These kinds of home delivery programs proliferated during the early months of the pandemic, but some got their start years earlier as food banks recognized that traditional models for addressing food insecurity were still out of reach for some people.  

Rainier Valley Food Bank (RVFB) has been delivering groceries to homebound residents for more than a decade, while North Helpline started its program in 2019 serving about 75 people each month. Today, that number has grown to around 920. 

“It’s about looking at other ways to alleviate the fear of not having enough food,” says Nathan Meacham, Food Access Coordinator at North Helpline. “This is one more way to do it.” 

The service has become a lifeline for a wide variety of people in Seattle, including those with disabilities and compromised immune systems, single mothers without daycare, workers with inflexible schedules, and anyone who doesn’t have the time or means to go to a food bank during set hours and wait in line for their turn to pick out groceries. 

“The majority are people who have lost mobility in some way, so they’re more homebound than they were,” Nathan says. “They call because they may have come into the food bank before, but now it’s a burden for them.” 

Home delivery is also seen as an important tool for addressing food equity, helping to reach communities that have historically been underserved by food access programs. Nearly 60% of households served by UWKC’s home delivery program identified as people of color, according to a 2021 University of Washington analysis, and about half had someone in the house with a disability. 

People who use the programs often report that they’re grateful to have reliable access to food – something they can count on weekly or every other week. For some, it’s a source of stability when other things in their life may feel out of control – and it may mean the difference between eating and going hungry. “A lot of our clients, they’re just really grateful,” says Leon at Byrd Barr Place. “If we don’t deliver the food, they might not eat.” 

“Someone called last week just to say thank you,” says Chloe Finkenbine, RVFB Home Delivery Program Coordinator. “He said this program saved his life – that without it he wouldn’t have been able to eat the last few years. I just hear stuff like that all the time from the volunteer drivers and clients.” 

The programs are meant to be low barrier, so people signing up don’t have to prove their income or any kind of disability. However, they are asked to give a reason why they’re unable come to the food bank during regular hours, and they’re encouraged to make it in if they can. 

“We want to reach as many people as possible, so we still want people who can come in to come in,” says Leon at Byrd Barr Place. 

Online ordering comes to the food bank 

There’s one big reason why most food bank users will still want to come in if they can: If they shop in person, they’re able to fill up their cart or basket with as much of whatever they like. For home delivery, food banks are currently limited in how much they can customize a box for each household and how much they can fit in it. 

Rainier Valley Food Bank (RVFB) is working to change that. In partnership with Jewish Family Service (JFS), the food bank has piloted an online ordering system called the Tri-River Market that allows users to pick individual items for their weekly delivery. 

“If someone wants to order 100 onions in a week, they are totally free to order 100 onions from us – as long as we have the inventory,” says Chloe at Rainier Valley Food Bank. 

In addition to giving home-delivery recipients more options, the Tri-River Market is designed to further food-access equity by overcoming any stigma that might keep some people from visiting a food bank even if they’re having trouble getting enough to eat. Deliveries come in unmarked paper bags, so there’s no indication they came from a food bank. 

Brian Sindel, JFS Food Bank Manager, says the organization partnered with RVFB on the project to better serve close-knit Jewish communities that have not traditionally used food bank services because of the stigma. 

“We know that this community has not accessed JFS services in the past, primarily because the Jewish community is very small and it may not feel like you can go to something like a food bank without seeing someone you know,” Brian says. “The families in this community are quite large, and because food is getting so expensive in Seattle – especially kosher food –it can be a real burden.” 

Need outpaces capacity 

Home delivery wasn’t an option at most food banks four years ago, but it has already become so popular that many organizations have reached capacity and now keep running waitlists. UWKC currently has more than 1,000 households on its home delivery waitlist and warns new applicants to expect “extremely long wait times” depending on their area. North Helpline has a waitlist as well, while RVFB recently shifted resources so it could offer delivery to about 60 people who had been on its waitlist.  

On the other hand, Byrd Barr still has capacity for home delivery and continues to sign up more people. “We can add them on pretty quick,” Leon says. “They don’t have to wait for weeks or months.” 

The biggest thing food banks say they need to increase delivery to more homes is the support of additional volunteers, both to pack boxes and deliver them. Many organizations are actively recruiting volunteers and hope to be able to reach more people soon. 

Whatever happens, it’s clear that home delivery is now a fixture in the response to food insecurity. 

“The program has really shown that there are different ways of doing things — that the emergency food system is more malleable than we realized it was,” says Sara at UWKC.  

All images courtesy of Rainier Valley Food Bank.