2025 Annual Report
a message from our leadership
At the close of 2025, my tenure as President of the Board of Directors comes to a close. We’ve come a long way over the past four years. I started as President when the organization was recovering from the impacts of COVID, and a dedicated building for our space was beginning to take shape. Through all the upheaval we still met the demand for food services for our community.
Among the things I’m most proud of is the completion of our construction project that stood up our new Food Hub. It was completed on time, and on budget. Our grocery store is filled with joyful noise as families shop and neighbors chat about what they might make with the food they select.
We had a huge celebration in the fall to welcome the community to our newly opened ‘house’ where Mayor Harrell was a keynote speaker. At the end of the year we faced a big challenge when government funding was held up for SNAP, and our community rallied to support us.
As I pass the gavel to Nathan Bushey, we are so grateful for your continued faith in us to meet the needs of those most vulnerable and we invite you to continue to grow with us as we launch into 2026.
-Margaret Goffman, Board Chair
building the food hub
With the construction of our new building, our programs now have a permanent, intentionally designed home, that provides our neighbors with dignified space to access service, along with added room for new endeavors including a commercial kitchen and community garden.
“This project was one my favorite projects of all time, that’s a lot projects.”
-Kevin Engelhardt, Senior Superintendent, Buchanan General Contracting
“This project has been a long ten years in the making. A huge thanks to everyone for being a big part of a successful journey! This is a huge bright spot in an otherwise dark world for those we serve. Onward, with the programming!”
-Lee Stanton, Former Board Member
Guests served by program
Food is the point of connection that brings folks to our food bank–it’s also the key to supporting the many other needs that crop up in conjunction with hunger. Our seven programs provide a multitude of pathways to access food and connection to support services. Through them we serve over 16,600 neighbors each year, providing nearly 1.5 million pounds of food.
grocery shopping
In September we opened our grocery store and introduced our appointment system–enabling our guests to book their next visit every time they shop, reducing wait times.
593
families visited our food bank to shop each week.
3,515
households received food support through our grocery programs.
30,527
visits were made to shop for groceries through our food bank.
Throughout the winter, we began to transition away from our mobile markets, which have provided our neighbors with access to shop during our construction. Because of the support of our partners, Paradise Baptist Church, and the Rainier Valley Branch of Seattle Library for partnering with us by sharing their space. We look forward to exploring further opportunities to engage our neighbors through similar partnership in the future.
During the growing season, we source some of our produce from local farm partners, including: Terrebonne Truck Patch Farm, Kirsop Farm, Hayden Berry Farm, and Present Tense Farm.
“We have had good responses from the community about our new grocery shopping model. Guests appreciate not having to wait in long lines and being able to get to their appointments on time. Appointments have helped guests better plan their mornings now that waiting times are not exceptionally long. Reducing crowded areas has had a positive effect on the stress levels of everyone. They also appreciate being able to select their own items and not be hurried through the process of shopping. For us it gives an opportunity to really serve with compassion and give our community members the dignity and attention they deserve as guests in our new space.”
-Otis Pimpleton, Food Services Manager
Home delivery
Throughout the construction of our Food Hub, we scaled up our Home Delivery program, adding additional service days to ensure our community maintained access to food if they were not able to make it to our Mobile Markets.
732
weekly home deliveries.
850
families served through our home delivery program.
38,115
deliveries made throughout 2025.
Tri-river market
This year was our first full year of distribution through our online grocery ordering and delivery service, Tri-River Market, and we’ve watched the program grow as its roots begin to find their footing. Sown in the intention to reach those who would often not seek out a food bank due to stigma, highly restrictive or sensitive diets, or simply needing more flexibility in food access, TRM has served as a key to food access in South Seattle. Our partnership with Jewish Family Service has allowed us to serve the Orthodox Jewish families in our community. At the beginning of this year, we had our first community referral, where a guest who shops on Tri-River Market referred another family from their Orthodox Jewish community–a testament to their trust in this program’s efficacy.
28
weekly home deliveries.
40
families served through Tri-River Market.
1,257
deliveries made throughout 2025.
spark to-go lunches
The To-Go windows in our Food Hub have unlocked new opportunities, deepening the level of support and connection those who stop by our SPARK To-Go window experience. It’s proven the point we have long believed in–when we meet our neighbors’ immediate need for food, they’re in the mental space to talk about the other needs that intersect.
Less than a month after we moved in, we noticed the number of folks accessing this program climb from 75 to 140 lunches distributed each day as the window brought this program out front and center, where it belongs.
23,186
lunches served in 2025.
116
average lunches served per day.
backpack
Nearly 80% of students in South Seattle qualify for free and reduced lunch, more than double the citywide average. We support students and their families by providing food through our backpack program, hosting community events, and participating in school and resource events. We customize each program to the school’s needs, for some that means delivering full weekly grocery bags to ensure the whole family is supported. During the summer, when students lose access to school meal programs, we continue this work, supplying food to school and community‑based youth programs.
13
partnered schools helped expand food access.
580
families received food support.
15,692
weekend bags delivered in 2025.
Beacon Hill Elementary | Concord Elementary | Franklin High School | Graham Hill Elementary | Hawthorne Elementary| Sugiyama High School | Leschi Elementary | Mercer Middle School | Middle College High School | Nova High School | Orca K-8 School | Rainier Beach High School | Seattle World School | South Shore K-8 School
Youth engagement
Over the past several years we’ve expanded opportunities for youth in our work. Last year, we grew into youth leadership development, hosting 5 youth interns over the summer through SYEP, TIPS, and Seattle's Food Equity Fund. They helped with the vet clinic, made day trips to Beacon Hill Food Forest to tend to our food bank plot, helped out with distribution, and updated their resume and portfolios to prepare for graduation!
“I’ve been a volunteer and an intern at RVFB for almost a year. Everyone is so welcoming and caring. I love it there. I’ve learned a lot of skills and tools about how to work with people. Sometimes language is a barrier, but I’ve learned from staff things like patience and how to be welcoming and communicate even when you don’t speak the same language. I really enjoy interacting with the guests and doing outreach in the community and with other youth, telling people about the food bank and hearing about what they need.
I look forward to going to the food bank because the staff are like an extended family to me–they always ask me about my day and are excited for me when I tell them about my success in school and life.”
-Angela, Youth Intern
community connector
We leaned into the idea of being a “hub” for connection, hosting two community resource fairs with 20 resource partners present at each, in addition to hosting four vet clinics. Each of these events provides a connection to additional services and supports for our neighbors.
In the fall, new legislation introduced modified the guidelines around work requirements for our neighbors who are enrolled in critical anti-poverty programs including SNAP, in addition to a significant decline in funding support for anti-poverty initiatives, is tightening the margins for folks who are seeking support, narrowing our neighbors ’ options.
443
guests were connected to services.
343
people enrolled in services.
35
service partners supported our guests.
“We had a guest come through in December who was looking for financial assistance through our Helpline program. In chatting with them, we learned they were struggling with a gap in their employment and admitted that they never thought they would end up here needing support like this.
At the same time, we were chatting with our colleagues at another food bank and learned that they were hiring. We were able to make the referral, encouraging our neighbor to apply for the role. They reached back out and shared that the support they received encouraged and helped them to find new energy to push forward. Now, they’ve found a new role, and are looking forward to giving that support back to others.
Now looking at what Helpline and Community Connector services look like in the new building, we’re excited to grow in this way–having more conversations with our neighbors that leads to wrap around support and long-term solutions.”
-Viridiana Ortiz, Outreach Coordinator
Helpline
In October, the government shutdown significantly delayed the delivery of SNAP benefits to our neighbors. Food banks like ours saw the impact in real time as community members made difficult decisions to spend money that would have gone to rent on food instead to meet their immediate basic needs. Simultaneously, a number of our key referral partners lost government funding resulting in less referral partners available to connect folks to for support, particularly in the financial assistance and housing sectors. As a result, we saw a significant spike in neighbors seeking rental and utility assistance–jumping from 10 applications to over 50 every month.
192
applications received.
47
applications funded.
$510,948
funds requested.
$24,842
funding distributed.
Harm reduction resources
In 2025, we partnered with King County Public Health Overdose Prevention and Response team as a part of their low-barrier Naloxone distribution pilot program. Given its effectiveness, we’ve brought it front and center alongside our To-Go lunch window. Thanks to the positive responses from our community members, the continued expressed need, and the kindness of those on the King County Public Health Overdose Prevention and Response team, we are lucky to continue to offer this service in a low-barrier, easily accessible manner, even though the pilot has ended.
750
fentanyl test strips distributed.
1,010
doses of Naloxone distributed.
3,900
safe sex supplies.
funding the food bank
Key partners for in-kind food sourcing include: Food Lifeline, Northwest Harvest, Grand Central Bakery, Community Loaves, Ridwell PCC, Safeway, QFC, Caruso Produce, and Seattle Marathon.
running the food bank
Net revenue represents funds raised for our revitalization project and an operational reserve started in 2020.
food access in our community
11,971
hours of service
137
volunteers per week
12,900
miles traveled
Our community is made up of more than:
23 staff
948 volunteers
15,687 guests
3,888 donors
Our volunteers serve in many roles, including: Board of Directors | Committees | Client Care | Data Entry | Graphic Design | Grocery Packing | Grocery Rescue | Grocery Shopping Assistant | Grounds Maintenance | Guest Check-in | Home Delivery Driver | Marketing | Translation
annual event sponsors
Amazon | Buchanan General Contracting | Caruso Produce | Datec Incorporated | Heritage Bank | Schemata Workshop | Sound Credit Union | Virginia Mason Franciscan Health | Windermere Mount Baker
in-kind donors
Joined alongside us to provide access to food and resources distributed through our food bank.
Beacon Food Forest | Caruso Produce | Community Loaves | Eat Happy Now Market | Food Lifeline | Grand Central Bakery | Hillman City P-patch | Homegrown | Northwest Harvest | PCC Community Market - Columbia City | QFC - Broadway | QFC - South Mercer Island | Safeway - Rainier Beach | Safeway - Genesse | Seattle Gymnastics Academy | Umami Kushi
impact makers
Provided wrap-around services to tackle the many challenges our neighbors face in creating upward mobility.
REACH | TruConnect | Washington Health Outreach | Evergreen Goodwill Job Training Program | Uplift NW | King County Public Health Overdose Prevention | King County Public Health Mobile Vaccination Team
staff
Eunice Antoine | Chloe Finkenbine | Zoey Ferenczy | Karey Fey | Gloria Hatcher-Mays | Henry Harris | Joan Hsiao | Brynne Irish | Nathan Jay | Jasmine Jones | Lashawntae Montgomery | Adanech Muno | Irene Morales | Kimmy Nguyen | Viridiana Ortiz | Felicia Parson | Otis Pimpleton | Tommy Raine | Hilary Reddy | Kwame Salmi-Adubofour | Julia Smiljanic | Carson Spaulding | Anna Stumm | Zara Teger | Kathy Ulrich | Zari Warden | Hannah Wertzberger | Attiyya Yafeu
“With the new building, everything runs more smoothly, enhancing efficiency, safety, and convenience.”
-Tommy Raine, Warehouse Assistant
board of directors
Jessica Blat | Nathan Bushey | Calandra Childers | Margaret Gofman | Daniel Gustafson | Molly Haas | Marcia Lee | Thomas Leinenbach | Brian Leslie | Elias Rainey | Maggie O’Sullivan | Phil O’Sullivan | Tamara Schmautz | Richard Wall
ways to give
Become a Monthly Donor | Invest through Workplace Giving | Make a Legacy Gift