Ballard Food Bank

I arrived at about 1 pm on a Monday and was given my number , which was 164. Great. Only 140 more to go before I’d be called. That’s a minimum 2.5 hour wait. The place has good intentions and very kind and helpful staff , but who has the time to wait that long ?

Friendly people, above professionalism atmosphere, good staff to provide resources and nutrition for anyone who wants to find supplemental alternatives. I always enjoy the prepared lunches and look to improve my welfare by sharing recipe ideas. Stop by sometime and see for yourself the place and the kindness that follows.

Good place for the unprivileged and unfortunate with references to all basic human services including education, transport, and health care. Creative cousine offering meals and a nice spot to find homeless acquaintances no longer seen since housing placement programs.

They are very organized to move over 400 recipients in a very short time. They have cafe that serves hot free food, while you wait. Need id? They can take care of that too!

Very nice staff. Very helpful. They cook a meal for you while you are there. All of the items on their shelves are color coated so it's easy to understand what's allowed to get. Over great place.

This is the best food bank in Ballard. This place offers daily lunch where they offer a few choice's to choose from. You can go there daily for that. The actual food bank allows you to shop once a week.

Thank you Ballard Food Bank! Humbled to the point of tears at the quality of the food and access of this location during a big life transition. Ballard Food Bank is easy to visit and can supply you with full nutrition (including some GF options for the wheat intolerant) as well as additional supplies concerning dental hygiene, feminine products, baby food and diapers and some treats for dogs and cats when available. I’ll post images of the foods I was able to find so you know the type of quality nutrients you can get here. They even had a small selection of botanicals! I went home hopeful. Thank you to the volunteers making this place work. I hope to volunteer here soon.

Great experience! It's like shopping at a grocery store. They also give you a hot meal out front. I enjoy going there.

They have everything however there's a lot of drug activity happening that's not being discussed or handled

The Ballard Food Bank sets a high standard on quality assistance. This past year I have been very grateful for all their help. I was able to get groceries and even my mail delivered there. They even had vegan items set aside for us vegans when we ask for them which is amazing! Many thanks and appreciation for all that they do!

This is a neighborhood food bank and service center, as I call it. An individual can get a replacement ID, sign up to receive their mail, get food all in this Ballard spot.

The last two times I went to donate, the volunteers who responded to my yells were very inappropriate with me. Volunteers need to understand that they are representing the food bank and they have a direct impact on whether people feel safe and helped when donating. In my last two donations, the guy helping me hit on me for a date, and the other time, when looking into my cargo bay, the volunteer begged me to give him items in my car that I was not donating. I had to say no three times. To be clear, he was not encouraging me to donate, he wanted to have my clothes and car items for himself. I parked my car after donating and went back to talk to him about it, and he sort of understood and apologized. Which was more than I got from the management. I left phone messages to follow up that I thought it was important that volunteers be trained and vetted not to scare people away from donating. It's been several months now and I just don't feel it's worth the risk of stress to go back. I worry about those who are inside getting food and essentials. They don't have as many choices when volunteers are inappropriate. It's one thing when other clients/guests are cantankerous, you can just chalk that up to human nature when people are stressed by scarcity and traffic flow rules. Volunteers who uphold a higher standard of decent and helpful behavior would improve this place immensely. I have dealt with some focused, polite and appropriate ones, but incidents like I have had should simply not happen, ever.

Our family has had the pleasure of visiting this food bank twice in the last few months. Volunteers are always helpful and friendly.

Any community funded non- profit that helps out those in need of food, hygiene products, and other miscellaneous needs gets my Yelp 5 Star Stamp of Approval. I never give enough. Not many do. Some do. The folks at Ballard Food Bank do. They offer up a clothing and hygiene bar, home delivery of groceries for the elderly and disabled a few days a week, as well as lunch, and a coffee and pastry service on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They run a tight ship in there and I like it. I swung by this afternoon with a trunk full o' goodies and the place was boppin'. People were working hard, folks were being supplied with groes.. It was impressive. Give online if you so choose, which is pretty dang cool: http://www.ballardfoodbank.org/content/view/9/23/ Or donate in person: Donation hours are: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 to 3:00pm Currently, they've got a promotion going at the Ballard Safeway where if you donate $5 with your grocery purchase, they'll donate a turkey to the Ballard Food Bank. I'm not a fan of this Safeway, but I am a fan of the bank, so I went ahead and did it. Spread a little holiday cheer and drop 'whatever you can' here when you're in the 'hood. It'll make you feel good. Damn good.

With winter rolling in, I decided to sort through my closet and donate all the sweaters and shoes I hadn't worn during the past year. If I haven't worn them recently, bet is I won't wear them again in the future. I thought of all the homeless and those in need who would benefit from the clothing more than me. When I passed by the clothing/shoe donation boxes around town, all three of the boxes are owned by FOR-profit companies and benefit off of our big hearts. I wanted to donate my items DIRECTLY to those who need them, without the chance of resale. I stopped in at the Ballard Food Bank which was hopping busy. The wonderful staff and volunteers accepted my clothing donations with open arms. They let me know that they give all the donations to The Bridge Care Center which serves Ballard's homeless, located at 1516 NW 51st Street. Normally they would have me stop over at The Bridge, but since they were closed they saved me an extra tip. After offering a charity tax form, they even had me write down my address for a thank you card. Great organization!

The people who work at the Ballard Food Bank are sweet, kind-hearted, and keep everything running smoothly. My sister and I stop in occasionally when we need help with groceries. Everyone is organized and help you in any way they can. You are always greeted with a smile and treated respectfully. I really like the fact that volunteers will make suggestions and tell you about the variety of food items available. After you select your groceries they quickly bag them up for you and even help you out to your car. Honestly, their customer service is what every grocery store wishes they could be. I wish I could give more than 5 stars.

Wonderful people doing terrific things for hard-working, struggling, underserved members of the Ballard community. By lifting them up, the Ballard Food Bank lifts us all. Yay! Love love love.

Whoo hoo! I just dropped off a donation of canned goods and feeling good! The guys were super nice, carrying a rather heavy box for me. There was a line of people waiting and I hope they get some good stuff from me!