12736 33rd Avenue NESeattle, WA 98125

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F A L L 2017 N E W S L E T T E R

F A L L 2017 N E W S L E T T E R

STAY IN TOUCH

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EVENTS CALENDAR

Care to ShareMama Stortini’s10/19 11am-10pmEnjoy Italian Fare, and donate 10% of purchases to North Helpline.

Scare Away Hunger10/31Trick-or-treat, and ask for donations to support North Helpline and HIP.

Community Concert 11/5 3-5pm Prince of Peace Lutheran ChurchFree with at-will offering, the annual benefit features community choirs performing with all voices coming together to form a mass choir.

Annual Pub Crawl 11/11 2-7pmJoin us for our Pub Crawl in Lake City! We’ll crawl south from Hellbent, Elliot Bay, Beer Authority, to Korochka Tavern!

Giving Tuesday11/28Black Friday. Cyber Monday. #GivingTuesday. Kick off the charitable season and donate online.

Turkey Drive11/17-18 9am-5pm Fred Meyer in Lake City

BITTER LAKE FOOD BANK GROWSNorth Helpline is proud to announce the food bank in Bitter Lake has expanded its distribution hours to be open every Saturday 10am-2pm. Previously, the food bank was open the first and third Saturday of the month. Now, the 160 neighbors who visit every distribution can frequent the food bank twice as often. They will be able to plan every week and stay stocked with nutritious food. With the increased hours, we are anticipating more people will visit the food bank. Many volunteers in the community have stepped up to meet the need. Our Bitter Lake location is thriving with support from our generous community members.

Mike lives upstairs in the Senior Housing Assistance Group. He said, “the food bank opening every week means a whole lot to the community. Also, the food selection was great today. It’s the best I have seen at the food bank.” Mike lives on his pension and social security. He might not need to come to the food bank every week, but some people will. He notes that people who come to the food bank include seniors as well as neighbors from nearby affordable housing.

Special thanks to Kevin Schofield for generously donating so that North Helpline was able to expand our cold storage capacity in September. North Helpline now has two brand new, large commercial refrigerators and a commercial size freezer for the food bank in Bitter Lake. Previously, food filled our seven standard-sized fridges to the brim. After a recent food distribution, our Bitter Lake food bank manager, Casey, celebrated having enough fresh produce, fruit, and meat until the last people walked through the doors at 2 pm. “Our goal is always for our last clients to have the same experience as our first clients, and with these new fridges that goal is a reality”.

One of the volunteers, Amy, opened one of the new fridges and said, “Did we get better food in addition to the refrigerators or does it just look better?” When we have the room to store the food properly, it’s not crushed by food on top so we are able to give out better looking food that will last longer!

SAVE THE DATE: EMPTY BOWLS 2018North Helpline is excited to announce the ninth annual fundraiser Empty Bowls will be held Sunday, February 25th 2018 at St. Matthews Parish. Empty Bowls is a silent auction featuring hand-crafted bowls created by local students and artisans. Enjoy live music and a meal of soup, salad, and dessert, all while supporting North Helpline’s mission to help keep neighbors housed and fed.

The auction items at Empty Bowls are sure to inspire generous bidding. What’s more, our community cherishes the opportunity to gather in celebration. We enjoy the day and honor our shared values through giving. Save the Date!

We at North Helpline wish to take a moment to remember a couple of dedicated and outstanding volunteers. Alex McCutcheon only began volunteering with North Helpline last year, but between April of 2016 and July of this year, Alex managed to dedicate a whopping 372 hours to the food bank. He was a generous and helpful man that we all enjoyed working with, and he is sorely missed. Alex passed away in July.

Mary Dowling was another wonderful volunteer who began working with us in 2014. She came every month with her Northeast Seattle Rotary Club group to help out on Thursday evenings. Mary volunteered over 100 hours with us over the years. She was also very helpful in accommodating our needs for our fundraising event, Empty Bowls. Mary also recently passed away and her presence will be missed.

REMEMBERING DEDICATED VOLUNTEERS

32 F A L L 2017 N E W S L E T T E R F A L L 2017 N E W S L E T T E R

COMINGS & GOINGS: AMERICORPS AT NORTH HELPLINE!We are busy soaking up the last bits of sun and preparing for the holidays at North Helpline. Summertime donations of produce lessen from our generous p-patches and garden partners, and we begin purchasing produce again to ensure fresh nutritious food is available year round. For the holidays, we are planning to raise funds, and to engage the community so our neighbors have enough turkeys, warm coats, and holiday toys.

This fall, North Helpline has begun strategic planning to chart our course in the coming years. We seek to better accomplish our mission to make sure ALL of our neighbors have food on their tables and a roof over their heads. Food banks are designed to alleviate hunger, which is vital, but we can do more to eliminate hunger. We aim to help end the need for food banks in our community. In order to tackle these systemic issues, we need to enter into greater partnerships with the people we serve.

Do you have thoughts or ideas about how we can work together to assist our neighbors in obtaining basic needs that affirm their human dignity and worth? Please feel free to email me at kellybrown@northhelpline.org . Thank you for being a part of our community. We are stronger together.

MARTHA’S STORYMartha originally came to North Helpline to get help with her light bill at the old fire station location. Back then, North Helpline provided emergency services, but did not have a food bank yet. As soon as the food bank opened, she felt relieved to have another dependable resource in her neighborhood.

Martha lives at home with her adult sons. Her son Michael has autism and is nonverbal. Martha is his caregiver. Martha depends on the food bank, and she has been coming every week for years.

Martha supplements ingredients from the food bank with what she is able to buy. She uses the food to make casseroles. “The food bank is my primary source of food. I could never afford the food that I get at the food bank,” says Martha. “I’m always grateful to get meat and milk.” Martha’s family has a stable home thanks to the network of community resources including the food bank.

BECOME A NEIGHBORHOOD HERO TODAY!GIVING THANKS TO YOU FOR ALL WE CAN DO

KELLY’S KORNER

Hunger and homelessness are year-round problems that require a year-round solution. Be part of the solution by joining our Neighborhood Heroes Club. By setting up an automatic monthly donation, you are helping your neighbors to have enough nutritious food and to stabilize their housing. The Neighborhood Heroes Club helps North Helpline and you to budget for the entire year and ensure there is consistent access to our services.• $250 can fuel our grocery vans for two

months• $100 helps bring groceries to people

who are homebound• $50 can feed a family for a week• $25 can provide diapers and formula for

a young family• $10 can provide five no cook bags

for your neighbors experiencing homelessness

Joining is easy: Complete the one time only sign up online and let the program do the rest of the work each month! You can also contact

Ben, our Development and Communications Coordinator, for easy instructions to complete direct transfers to North Helpline (with no online service fee) .Flexible: You can stop or change your donation at any time!

Impact: When you choose to donate through monthly contributions, you help North Helpline save time, money, and resources.Get started as a Neighborhood Hero! Visit our online giving page, northhelpline.org and click on Donate Now. Choose your monthly donation amount, then select the “monthly” button and complete the rest of your

donation. When you complete your donation, you’ll be assigned a login that will allow you to edit or cancel your donation at any time. Don’t hesitate to call Ben at 206.367.3477 and we can help you get started!

Every day, we at North Helpline are thankful for many reasons. Because of you, our neighbors have numerous ways to eat, stay warm in their homes, and celebrate this time of year. Here are some other things we are thankful for.

We are thankful, because every week Prince of Peace makes hundreds of sandwiches so that we can serve lunch to clients who visit North Helpline. We never turn anyone away for food.

We are thankful, because every day we are open, our clients experiencing homelessness can receive no cook bags, which helps them stay fed in a way that is considerate of their challenging circumstances.

We are thankful for everyone who makes our Turkey Drives successful, so that every possible neighbor who wants a turkey on Thanksgiving can have one.

We are thankful, because in an emergency our neighbors can receive help paying their utility bills or part of their rent.

We are thankful, because in 2017 we hired Ben (Development and Communications Coordinator), Casey (Bitter Lake Food Bank Manager), and Melanie (Community Connector).

We are thankful to be able to provide

North Helpline is pleased to welcome Mary Claire Squires and Russell Nylen as our new AmeriCorps service members. Mary Claire is stepping into the role of Volunteer Coordinator, and Russell is serving as the Food Coordinator.

As Mary Claire joins us, we are sad to say goodbye to AnnaJoy Thompson. For a year, AnnaJoy worked as our Volunteer Coordinator and never hesitated to be there for our volunteers and staff. We always enjoyed her smile and infectious enthusiasm.

Mary Claire is a Pacific Northwest native and is excited to help out in her home community during her year of service as an AmeriCorps volunteer. She graduated from Gonzaga University in May of 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a minor in Sociology. At Gonzaga, Mary Claire deepend her appreciation of the importance of giving back. Mary Claire’s hobbies include hiking in the woods with her dog Sadie, swimming, and walking around in the rain.

Russell hails from Deland, Florida. Having graduated from Syracuse University, with a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology, he moved to Seattle to continue working with food, which is his passion. Russell was raised in a community active in organic agriculture, food banks, and farmers markets. He believes access to healthy food is an integral aspect of social justice. Russell also loves playing drums, listening to live music, gardening, and going for long walks.

volunteers opportunities to be of service and connect with our neighbors who come to the food bank.

We are thankful for our new partner, Valley Cities Behavioral Health Care, connecting our neighbors with support for mental health or substance use concerns.

We are thankful that we can buy produce with additional budgeted funds, to purchase produce for the toddler bags distributed through the Baby Cupboard.

We are thankful to be able to deliver groceries directly to the homes of 35 people who aren’t able to come to the food bank in person.

We are thankful to have attended the Closing the Hunger Gap conference, learning ways to shift our service model from charity to justice.

Above all, we are thankful for YOU.

Special Thanks to our Neighborhood Heroes Doug Alexander, Susan Bruzas, Paula Burke, Amy Cadwell, Megan Callow, Lynn Chapman, Kristin Costello, Linda Fredericks, Joni Fuller, Kathleen Gallagher, Nancy Gilbert, Linda Guangorena, Chris Haines, Russell Hamerly, Mary Hanson, Richard Hobbs, Prithu Jain, Nigel Jones, Ruth Kading, Savannah Ledgerwood, Margaret Madeleine, Gregory Miller, Sandy and Tim Motzer, James Papson, Beverly Reed, Sally Renn, Carolyn Rohrs, Thomas Rowe, Janet Stover, Aric Skurdal, Gertrude Tindall, and S Kip White.

Kelly BrownExecutive Director