A Year of Transformation Powered By Community Care
Throughout the past year and a half, we’ve watched transformation blossom at Rainier Valley Food Bank throughout the course of our building’s renovation. As we approach the other side, with our community food hub almost complete, we’re reflecting on all that this time has brought us. We’ve come to realize that one thing is true: our work through this season has been powered by community care. From transforming tiny homes into office spaces to operating our services fully outdoors in the Food Village and partnering with local organizations to host Mobile Markets where our guests can shop, we’ve been shaped by our partnerships. The Food Village brought us out into the open, in some ways making us more available to serve.
Each of our programs reflects this. Like our home delivery program, which serves 750 families a week. It’s powered by a team of home delivery drivers, completing 40 routes and traveling over 10,000 miles a year to ensure our neighbors’ pantries are stocked. But our volunteers don’t stop there. They forge relationships, week after week, as they show up to bring back a greater understanding of these neighbors’ needs, and unlocking insights we use to better serve.
Our Outreach Coordinator, Viri, spoke about the cyclical nature of our work, sharing how community care nourishes each of us who are involved in the ecosystem:
"We provide a lot of support, but our guests also provide a lot of support for each other. They'll meet up to go to Mobile Markets. And that's them being there to support someone else going to the food bank. We have clients who have met here who live in the same building, and they'll look out for each other as well. It promotes that community work. They call each other and say 'hey, they have this today.' We provide a space for clients to create that community for themselves as well.
We do our part, and they do their part to support each other. You can see the dedication our guests have to get here early, to go out of their way for things. Sometimes it takes multiple buses to get here, to carry stuff with them. It takes a lot of dedication and work from them. It's the same from the staff perspective. Having to move heavy things around multiple times. Getting here early. Having the conversation. Helping people park their cars when it's difficult to find parking. We go above and beyond to do it.”
Community care has always been deeply rooted in our organization’s history, first founded in a basement by a group of concerned neighbors who didn’t want to see members of their community go hungry; we exist and persist because of community care. While some folks may stop in seeking services like a bag of groceries, others come simply for the connection — the genuine desire to be a part of something. If you've stopped by the food bank, you know that feeling. It's that thing that keeps you showing up, that leads you to buy a bottle of oil to donate, take a long lunch break to drive a home delivery route, or encourages you to make a gift because we all feel it — we're stronger and better off in a community.