They have this process down. It's efficient use of the volunteers and they make you feel like you are contributing. This was my third time here, and I packaged lentils, dairy and frozen potatoes. After a quick briefing and getting suited up, we are in the task. You get a rhythm going and get quicker. It's more fun when you bring friends, and the time goes fast. Makes me feel like I am giving back a bit. read more

Our company did our volunteer day here and it was such a great experience. The people overseeing the volunteer team were so gracious with their time. We received clear instructions on how to sort food and we receive a great a introduction video on how our efforts will be impactful to those around the community. I definitely recommend spending time with this organization and giving your time to make a difference. It's a great experience you won't regret. read more

What an awesome organization to volunteer with. If you haven't yet... GO! All the employees here are very kind, the facility is super clean, and the whole process is really organized. You start off watching a video, and then getting yourself and cleaned and geared up to sort. Once you're in the actual warehouse, you start sorting! We sorted oats the night we went into two pound bags. It was a very easy process and super fun to do if you're volunteering with family or friends. The time actually goes by SUPER fast and you don't even realize how much time is passing. After you're done with your session, you get to watch a really heartwarming video showing the people you've helped and the coordinator tells you just how much food your group sorted that day. Highly recommend if you find yourself having some free time. They really do love and need the support of volunteers! Get online and sign up for a session today! read more

Food Lifeline - SO PROUD OF US! - Food Banks Near Me - Seattle, Washington

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Awesome setup! Very very organized system. The facility is 2 years new with lots of room and modern facilities. When you volunteer, you meet in the main area, watch a video on safety, listen to an employee tell you about what you'll be doing and they'll answer any questions. After that, you stop by a locker area where you drop off anything you don't need, then go to another area and wash up, put on standard food protection gear like gloves, aprons, etc. Then you are escorted through the area with an friendly employee and shown where everything is located. then go do your tasks. A nice touch is at the end where you meet back at the first main area, watch another video and your host tells you how much good you did using quantity and weights so you know just how much of a difference you made. The people here are so friendly and grateful for the help you provide. There's even photo opportunities for memories sake. For the record, our group sorted 4016 pounds of cereal, which is 32,128 two ounce bowls. We sorted 1,036 bowls per volunteer! This is a good place to help out if you are looking to do a little good in your community. read more

Food Lifeline - Our totals for the night - Food Banks Near Me - Seattle, Washington

What a wonderful volunteer opportunity with Food Lifeline! My office was looking for a volunteer opportunity that would accommodate a group of 10+ for a weekday. It was actually way more challenging than we anticipated, to find an organization that would allow large groups to volunteer for a few hours on a weekday. But fortunately, we found Food Lifeline, an organization helping prevent hunger by supplying food banks all around the region. They are known for their volunteer parties! To arrange a volunteer shift for a group, Food Lifeline staff was able to help each volunteer get registered by our group/workplace online. We received a confirmation e-mail, with detailed instructions of our shift, location and even what to wear. As we arrived at the large Food Lifeline facility in south Seattle we were all greeted by the staff, inviting us after check-in to get coffee, tea, water, store our items in the lockers, and take a picture at the selfie wall. They made us feel welcomed. Before our actual shift started we had a quick orientation on safety procedures and staff was able to inform us of the different tasks that we'd be working on. Our shift was in the afternoon for two and a half hours, which went by quickly since we were learning a lot and having fun! For our volunteer party we helped Hank, the employee at Food Lifeline, sort through donated produce, which was to be transported immediately after to various food banks in the region. It was very cool to hear from Hank his background, time at Food Lifeline, and how our volunteering would feed families. Hank helped us the entire time with the produce and we stacked all of the sorted produce in boxes on crates. We then washed all of the material for sorting, ensuring it was ready for tomorrow's volunteers. At the end of our shift the staff at Food Lifeline debriefed with us on all the work we did, and actually did the math on how many meals we were able to provide, based off how many volunteers and hours worked. This helped us understand the value of our work and all that Food Lifeline does. I cannot thank Food Lifeline enough for making our time volunteering so fun, special and meaningful. Glad to support an organization doing amazing work in our community! read more

Food Lifeline - Sorted boxes of produce ready to go out to the food banks - Food Banks Near Me - Seattle, Washington

A great place to volunteer! Come one come all - help is always welcome and needed. On the evening that we were there, we scooped up Nature's Path granola from 300lb bags into 2lb bags for easier distribution to Food Banks in our greater Puget Sound area. We bagged over 4000lbs of cereal, contributing to over 10,000 bowls of cereal which was estimated to feed over 30,000 people! Wow! What an impact two hours of your day can make. The staff were very well organized and welcomed us with a sign-in, name tags, introductory video. Then we were led towards the warehouse where we washed our hands and covered up (hair and beard nets, gloves, sleeves and aprons)*. Once ready, we were led into the warehouse by staff and volunteers who walked us through the process, including labeling bags (as it was a new product), scales for weighing 2lb bags, and bread ties for each. At the end of our service, we were escorted back through to the front room where we watched a second video, sharing a little of the impact of our volunteering, invited to take stickers and come again, then headed out. Overall it was a great experience with friendly volunteers and a perfectly wonderful way to spend two (plus) hours of your day, week, month, life. *Recommendations: Have people get their hair nets on before washing their hands! AND find a way to useless plastic; we are here to do good for our neighbors, yet we are contributing to the decay of our planet. read more

Let's face it, sometimes you get the urge to volunteer; and I'm addicted to finding great non-profits that need help. This is one where, you can get the workout you expect from volunteering, an feel great about the cause. I dare not preach the goodness of this organization, there are four other great reviews about Food Lifeline. Here's the breakdown of the "food repack" opportunity. It's my favorite, but there are many activities there you can participate, depending on your expected workout. This is a review the volunteer event. I decry, I love hard labor, and they give me plenty. In terms of filling bags of food, they come to the facility as pallets, frozen. The goal is to make the large pallet worth of food, disappear into small 2lb bags. If you want the biggest workout, you will want to be the person who refills the bins for the scoopers, or perhaps the person who collects the repackaged food, and packs them into boxes. Your arms will be nicely toned. If you are seeking a little less intensity, you can scoop and measure the food to be packaged, into small bags. Simple, but speed and accuracy is key! What makes these events fun, is the community of people you meet. A wide range of people come and help, so conversation will happen, no matter what role you decide. The staff there keep the music on, and everyone is energized. Before you know it, two hours pass, and you are back in the volunteer room, to hear the results of your labor. I enjoy all the aspects of volunteering, and this organization is perfect anyone looking for a great opportunity. It's also great for families and kids, I believe 6 or older. read more

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Today I had the opportunity to participate in Volunteer Day at my company CDK Global, and did Volunteer Day at Food Lifeline in South Park. A group of 15 of my Agency co workers all participated and did a full day of volunteering and it was an amazing experience. I volunteered about 20 years ago at the Food Lifeline in Shoreline and have always wanted to come back here and so happy I did. I wish I had taken pictures during the actual volunteering activity but it got kind of icky today. The first half of the day I was part of the Produce group and was I in for a treat. We ended up going through all different kinds of produce from grocery stores that were on their last leg, from pineapples, to apples, to sweet potatoes, to broccoli etc. If you can imagine produce when going bad turns slimy and moldy. Sorting through good to eat and not good to eat produce was an adventure. The second part of the day I joined the Dairy team in the refrigerator and that experience was actually fun. The fridge was cold but we got to wear cool bright orange warm fleeces, and check expiration dates on milk, coffee, tofu, and yogurt. Carry heavy milk crates lid on pallets and watch em leave the facility ready to be delivered. Bonding and having a team activity volunteering with some co workers was great but I'll share what I really took from today. I go everyday working, buying, taking, running errands, eating, yelping, drinking, etc. but I never take time out of my day and give back or take time out of my so called "busy" schedule and give back. I truly enjoyed volunteering today knowing 31,000 meals were packaged by my team and about 700 meals from myself. It felt good knowing a hungry homeless person at a home shelter or a less fortunate less privileged familia will be able to have a decent meal that I helped package. Food Lifeline will for sure see me again, soon! read more

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What an outstanding charity doing brilliant work- they take food that would be thrown out, ensure it's in good enough shape to use and deliver it locally. My skip level boss had our team go here for a morale event- we had a blast. They're SO organized they've got a meeting room where they go over the tasks and then you wash up, get gloves and go sort. Don't pretend you can't volunteer here because you have a bad back- they've got work that requires no lifting- something for everyone. Did I mention we had fun? We seriously laughed SO HARD- Hank kept us entertained! We sorted strawberries- Hank was our staff person to show us how to work. He has a huge heart, and cares so much. Hank at one time was new to the US and needed the help of the local food bank. Dozens of food banks benefit from Food Lifeline get food from here- ready to sort. Oh and they compost- so anything not consumed composts and is reused for good. Listen, I'm a tough sell when it comes to charities and I've volunteered at a lot of unorganized places- this is the most organized place. If you're going to give your time, do it where it makes an impact. If you don't want to sort food, donate. You don't even need to leave your chair. Go get yourself some good karma! To the folks at Food Lifeline- hello from the Xbox team at Microsoft who volunteered in April ! read more

As a huge fan of Food Lifeline and the work that they do, I was super excited to find out that Volunteers are now accepted at the warehouse in SoDo! I set up a volunteer event for my professional organization last week and Food Lifeline was awesome, as usual. This warehouse can accommodate 20 - 25 volunteers at a time and you can schedule events using their online system. This location also has a Community Volunteer Night which is for small groups and individuals. The sessions are two hours and volunteers repackage, sort or relabel food. The food has a quick turn around and will be at a local food bank within a few days! Make a difference and volunteer with Food Lifeline! read more

I and 9 other Hawaii natives went to Food Lifeline this past weekend to volunteer in their warehouse where we sorted over 3,600 lbs of carrots! We re-packaged these carrots to be sent to food banks across the nation! The process was as close to being a tightly-run ship as possible considering the majority of us (and other volunteer groups) were first timers. The staff (volunteer staff) had clear instructions and an upbeat attitude that carried us throughout our 3 hour shift. Time went by so quickly! At the end they shared statistics on the impact we made and we left feeling like we did a great service to our community. This is the second Food Lifeline event I've volunteered for in the past two months and both were eye-opening and rewarding experiences. read more

This is one of my favorite places to volunteer at! You come here with a group (I've gone with the Junior League as well as with One Brick and BEAN) and for about 2 hours they have you work on some kind of food repackaging project. Basically they get all kinds of food in bulk. This needs to get split into smaller sizes to go out to the local food banks and shelters. Also the food needs to be checked to make sure it was o.k. Once we went through making sure huge garbage sized containers of apples were good and then packing them into smaller boxes. Another time we went through canned samon to make sure the containers were not to badly damaged and then put a label on it and repackaged it. The events are all fun, interesting, and you usually have time to meet and talk with the people around you while you are volunteering. This last time I volunteered there were 6 groups there, and a total of 54 people (a record for them they said) to volunteer and help with the project. They are highly organized & I am very impressed with the way this organization works and the staff that run it. read more

I begged for food today and for turned away 15 minutes before they closed. I am very angry. I got treated like dog shit by the woman there. I begged for a small milk or an orange or anything and she didn't even ask. read more

Great place for the volunteering work. We have been here twice, and we loved both times read more

Food Lifeline - Waiting after the work. - Food Banks Near Me - Seattle, Washington

Food Lifeline is a *fantastic* charity! So, what makes a charity "fantastic" in my books? First off, charities are businesses and it costs money to run a business. This is a fact of life. You can't expect 100% of a donation to go straight to supporting the cause. Food Lifeline does a marvelous job at managing their expenses! 97% of the financial donations go directly to feeding hungry people in western Washington! That ... is simply fantastic in and of itself. They also prudently manage their food donations. For example, they receive pallet donations containing giant bags of brownie mix, and they sort and individually package serving sizes that recipients can use. After all, what could any family possibly do if they received a 20 lb bag of brownie mix?! Second, Food Lifeline provides a vital service to the community. When you picture the people who Food Lifeline support, do you think it's primarily the homeless? I assure you, it's not. There are families who are one paycheck - or less - away from being homeless. Food donations received from FLL help sustain them and their families. They support hungry seniors, children whose education suffers because they silently go hungry for breakfast or lunch, grandparents who have suddenly taken on the unexpected role of supporting their grandchildren, single parents who are struggling to make ends meet, unemployed workers who are down on their luck, disabled folks who are doing their best to stretch a meager income as best as they can, etc. What could happen if any of these people suddenly were faced with not receiving meal support? It isn't pretty, and let's face it, it's a LOT easier to keep people in their homes than it is to try to bring someone out of homelessness. Doing what we can to help out vital services (such as providing food) helps give people better stability altogether. Beyond the obvious financial repercussions, how long do you think an adult can sustain themselves on cheap foods with a low nutritional value? My own mother grew up incredibly poor, and she was felt offended and very slighted when (as an adult) she found out her father would go to lunch with his coworkers at the local diner. When she asked her mom "Why did you let dad eat at the diner every day when I would come home from school and my after school snack was a raw potato?" "Hun, I knew your dad needed to eat healthy, balanced meals if he was going to continue to provide for the family, and that was the only way we could ensure he could keep working." My mom was floored, but she knew her mom was absolutely right and her parents had made the right judgement call. But Food Lifeline is *so* much more than that. Sure, there are programs in place so kids can get free breakfast and lunch when they're at school. But what about after school snacks and dinner on school nights? What about weekend meals? What about the summers? Do you think the families just automatically can pick up where the schools left off? Not always. Food Lifeline is smart enough and actually *cares* enough to go "Hmm, we send this young boy home with food for the weekend. What about his twin brother? Is he getting the support he needs too?" Above all of that, Food Lifeline is a great charity to work with! I had the pleasure of working with Lindsay, Abby, and Tony when I co-hosted a tabletop gaming event a couple of months back. They were simply great to work with! They were knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and incredibly grateful to have three random people approach them and say "We'd like to throw a tabletop gaming event and donate all the proceeds to your charity. Are you interested?" Believe it or not, some charities are, well, "less than amiable" to work with when you tell them "I'd like to give you money, namely every dime I make from all of this work I'm putting towards this event!" NOT Food Lifeline! They were eager to do what they could to help, and I am looking forward to working with them in the future for repeat events! Of course I'm just highlighting only part of what they do. They're a vital part of our community, and their impact on the community is truly admirable. So, how can you support this fantastic charity? Obviously monetary donations help! If you can't do that, they certainly will accept food donations and volunteers! After all, it takes a lot of labor to quickly get the food out to the community members who desperately need it, and volunteers help keep FLL's labor costs down. I have coordinated a few company team building events at food banks where we volunteered to sort and wipe down canned food donations, and everyone enjoyed it! People in the restaurant community are also very supportive of Food Lifeline for many good reasons. Food Lifeline is also a subsidiary of the Feeding America organization. So if you liked other food charities in other cities - such as Capital Area Food Bank in Austin, etc - you should support Food Lifeline! read more