Backyard BBQ Bash!
Last week we held our very first Backyard BBQ! We had nearly 225 neighbors join us, including volunteers, food guests, staff, and board members. As with all things at the food bank, we put good food at the center, featuring some of our favorite local Seattle places like Just Like Home, Bang Bang, Umami Kushi, Delish Ethiopian, FollowMe Catering, Tony's Bakery, and Creamy Cone.
Around the building, there were different activation stations, such as a fun game out in the garden with Gloria where you used sticky hands to try and grab buttons or stickers! We scattered fun facts about our services on boards located throughout our facility. In the kitchen, Chef Relasha cooked up a fusion recipe game, inviting folks to add their flare to a pot of mac and cheese, while sampling plum popsicles! Zoey and Viri held down our HUB, sharing the growth of our Community Connector program, and inviting our neighbors to share feedback on how we can continue to expand the resources available.
Midway through the event, our Development Director and event emcee, Kathy Ulrich, came up on stage, alongside board member Phil O’Sullivan, and shared some of the stories of friendship and community built at RVFB. Two volunteer delivery drivers, Kent and Steve, are childhood friends who have known each other since 8th grade. Kent started volunteering with us during COVID and told Steve how much he loved it, and soon enough Steve was volunteering too! Now, years later, they both still join us every week as Home Delivery drivers, bringing groceries to our neighbors' doorsteps, and building relationships: talking about life, their kids, the work they do at the food bank, and how important community is.
We also had Dick, a board member, and Peter join us on stage. They became friends when their children became friends. Dick invited Peter to volunteer as well after learning about his love of cooking. They've created a deeper connection with each other while driving for our Grocery Rescue and Home Delivery Program. Nothing we do is without the help of generous volunteers, like these four, that keep our programs running.
We closed off the day with a visit from, Seattle icons, Double Dutch Diva’s joined the party and showered off their jump rope skills, even roping in some of our staff and community members, including Chef Relasha, and Executive Director, Gloria! So many of our guests joined in on the fun, dancing to the music, demoing the jump ropes and hula hoops. Everyone showed up and strutted their stuff, showing what our community is really like.
The friendship and joy displayed that day was something so inspiring. Our community came together and created something special, celebrated our volunteers, embraced our neighbors, and renewed our commitment to the value of lending a hand, whether that looks like giving time, money, items, or voice to support food access.
