Ballard Food Bank’s new home revealed

Geeky Swedes Ballard

Back in December, we told you the Ballard Food Bank was moving from 24th Ave. to an undisclosed location in Ballard’s industrial area.  Today, we know exactly where that location will be.  Executive Director Nancy McKinney tells us that starting this summer, the food bank’s new home will be 5130 Leary Ave. 

The new location has 75% more square footage than the current space, and will feature a demonstration garden and extended hours.  Last year, the Ballard Food Bank served almost 4000 people from Ballard, Magnolia, and Queen Anne.

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

100 thoughts to “Ballard Food Bank’s new home revealed”

  1. so what does this mean for that part of ballard…? will we get even more bums or is this a good thing that the location is right there…?

  2. It means that as long as I catch the 18X home from work, not the 18 local, I no longer have to ride home with all the bums stopping at the food bank. The 18X will bypass the new location. Yay!

  4. It would have been better if it moved to the area north of Fred Meyer that has been taken over by the vagrants in their scummy RVs…so much more convenient for the bums there, it would be an easy, short stumble for their handout.

    Still, at least it has been removed from the residential part of town (where it should never have been).

    Of course, if the food bank said they were moving to “an undisclosed location in Ballard’s industrial area” that’s not exactly what I’d call honest. This is hardly Ballard’s “industrial area” – it’s 2 blocks down Leary from the heart of Ballard. Bring more vagrants to market Street!

  7. People live in very close proximity to this area whether or no it’s called “industrial”. I’m sure the people who live ther feel it’s pretty darn residential. Nice to feel sanctimonious about getting it out of your end of the hood and into someone elses.
    But really, what is so wrong about a food bank in a residential neighborhood?
    I’m mostly interested in exactly what services they will be providing and what extended hours exactly means….anyone?

  9. Seventy-five percent more room for freebies, handouts and food to reward the bums who choose not to work, should draw lots more vagrants and drunks to Ballard, whoo hoo!

  11. Wow, sad to read these comments. Have you seen the line at the Ballard Food Bank lately? Many young families and elderly, clean and in need of some support during these hard economic times. Not to say that ” the bums” don’t deserve some respect from you, too. I do not wish hard times for any of you, but keep in mind that one day it could be you, one of your friends or a member of your family. The fact this program is expanding is great news – we should be celebrating!

  12. excellent point, kelly…it’s not just the homeless who depend on the food bank…

    david…there are homes and apartments across the street from the BNSF railyards in Interbay, does that mean the railyard area isn’t industrial?

    ever hear of mixed-use zoning?

  13. Thanks, Kelly J. Families of all kinds, the elderly, and homeless people use the Ballard Food Bank.

    The new location is a good one, and it is closer to my home. I’m irritated by aggressive homeless vagrants as much as the next person, but do you want them to go hungry? Compassion, please.

  14. it’s a good thing all the drunken hipsters and the “bridge & tunnel” crowd that now frequents ballard on weekend nights hasn’t caused any problems or anything…

    …we can just continue to blame all of ballard’s problems and crime on the homeless…

  15. the guy who crashed his car and (luckily) only killed himself and his 2 friends was not homeless

    the guy who murdered the gas station attendant on 15th was not homeless

    the guy who stabbed the bartender/manager at the matador was not homeless

    the guy dealing crack out of his apartment near 65th and 24th was not homeless

    but you’re all right, the problems and crime that now plague ballard are mostly because of the homeless…

  17. “Expanded hours,” as I understand it, means that in this new location there may be the opportunity to offer distribution to clients on an evening or a Saturday – which the Food Bank is restricted from doing in the current location. This translates to making the services of the Food Bank more accessible to the working poor and families who can’t come in between 11 and 3 mid-week.
    Great new location choice! It’s right in the center of the area BFB serves: Ballard, Magnolia and N. Queen Anne.

  18. Hey, none of us who are disgusted that Ballard has become a magnet for the bums have any problem with “the homeless.” Honest, decent folks temporarily down on their luck, bless them, they’re welcome. I *used to* give to the food bank to help them. Not any more, and not until this neighborhood comes out of its fantasy.

    It’s the vagrants, the scumbags, the bums we’re sick of. And we’re sick of every mushy-headed Ballard dim bulb bumvocate always trying to conflate the two. They’re not the same. The creeps who have ruined Ballard are not “the homeless” – they lowlife bums. Period.

    You say, ” I’m irritated by aggressive homeless vagrants as much as the next person, but do you want them to go hungry?”

    Yes. I do. You should, too, unless you want more of them.

    If we stopped happily giving them everything they need to spend all their time in a stupor, they might eventually be motivated to get off their arses and do something other than crap on our sidewalks, hassle passing pedestrians, and assault innocent people at bus shelters.

    Ballard coddles these creeps, and that’s why they have taken over our public spaces. They know this neighborhood is filled with suckers. Stop feeding them, please.

  20. Some of these comments are down right offensive. This community food bank needs our support now more than ever. The fact that they now have more space to store donations is a good thing. Stay on topic please.

    For those of you trolls who have to rant and rave about bums and vagrants, get a life.

    Stereotyping anyone based on how they look or whether they are clients of the food bank borders on racism.

    I am not denying that there are problems with individuals who are behaving socially inappropriate but to blame all crime or all the perceived problems of an area on them is absurd.

    And to label them as bums and scumbags and vagrants is just thinly veiled racism. But opinions are like a******s, everybody has one.

    Perhaps the solution is to be found in enforcing the laws they are violating? Or is one condemned because of circumstance or appearance by the self righteous posters on this blog? Grow up. If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.

  21. “Not to say that ” the bums” don’t deserve some respect from you”

    What, like the drunk hobo who staggered across my lawn this morning? When I asked if I could help him (calling him ‘sir’), he spun around, stumbled into the street and asked for a buck for some ‘food’. When I politely gave him directions towards the food bank, he then gave me the finger, in front of my kids

    So, the question is, how much respect should I be giving this gentleman beyond being polite and calling him sir and providing him directions to a place nearby that could help him:

    1. A lot of respect
    2. A little respect
    3. No respect.

    “but do you want them to go hungry”

    Well the food they do get only seems to help them use their money to buy what they actually want: booze, smokes and dope.

  22. Name – stop backpedaling and arguing over semantics.

    the guy who crashed his car and (luckily) only killed himself and his 2 friends was not homeless, nor was he a “bum” in a drunken stupor

    the guy who murdered the gas station attendant on 15th was not homeless, nor was he a “bum” in a drunken stupor

    the guy who stabbed the bartender/manager at the matador was not homeless, nor was he a “bum” in a drunken stupor

    the guy dealing crack out of his apartment near 65th and 24th was not homeless, nor was he a “bum” in a drunken stupor

    you’re, the problems and crime that now plague ballard are mostly because of the bums “taking over our public spaces”

    i hear the parade yesterday was overwhelmingly dominated by bums asking for handouts and not by kids on the sidewalks asking for candy…

  23. What parallel universe did you just arrive from?

    You might want to finda dictionary and look up a word you seem to really want to toss about for no apparent reason: Racism.

    Where did that come from (other than your own mind)?

    While you’ve got that book out, you might also look up “self righteous”. Oh the irony.

    Cheers.

  24. “them as bums and scumbags and vagrants is just thinly veiled racism.”

    Bums are a race? I learn something new everyday reading myballard. BTW, the ones I see on Ballard Commons are nearly 100% white.

    “Perhaps the solution is to be found in enforcing the laws they are violating?”

    Great, then you’ll claim they’re being persecuted.

  25. All the creeps I see in Ballard appear to be quite caucasian.

    So, because I resent the bums crapping on the sidewalk, that makes me a racist, eh?

    Such is the logic of the bum-lovers here.

  27. I’ve lived close to the current location for more than 8 years and have zero complaints about the Ballard Food Bank. They’ve been good neighbors.

  28. The Food bank was also a great convenience for the arsonist who burned down half of Greenwood last summer, too. Very handy for picking up mail and avoiding the authorities!

  29. on the subject of homeless..isaw all this within 5 minutes this AM

    at the wells fargo on market, a dude was stomping down the street SCREAMING his head off, aggressively, drinking one of those lovely high powered beverages. this was before 10am. saw him try to board a bus. didn’t get on.

    i watched the Shopping Cart Lady today, briefly. she wheeled her Cart of Crap into a bus shelter basicly forcing the other person waiting out into the rain…she seemed to be waiting for a bus also. i assume her crap will be stinking up the bus stop for days. i see her (an assumption) little gifts all over ballard.

    i feel bad for her, and i assume that she is “crazy”, but its just gross that these heaps of junk are dotting the streets. its gotta be cheaper to give her some place to live than have city workers clean up after her.

    at the same time, i got to see some of ballards finest homeless drunks all huddled up under the awning at safeway, laughing it up, drinking at 10 AM…

    i feel torn. many people do need help out there, but do we want to support the sort of behavior i described also? i really don’t.

  30. I am both extremely proud of our community for their vision and support of the Ballard Food Bank and extremely distressed by some of the comments written here. This is a wonderful program, deserving of respect and support, as are the people they serve. Many of the people who use food banks are the new poor, forced into accessing their basic needs through community support for the first time. And many, after a hand up (not hand out) become volunteers, advocates and donors in their community, giving back. So let’s celebrate what community really means and celebrate BFB!

  31. Perhaps the brand of clothes the arsonist was wearing also contributed to his pyrophilic activities? Choice of beer? Toothpaste? Underwear?

    Nice that fully 1/2 of Greenwood has already rebuilt from the ravages of one man.

  32. I’ve encountered haters in Ballard on several occasions when I’ve visited. Fortunately, they seem to spend most of their time on the internet, frequenting blogs. I know they’re not the real Ballard, and I will never judge your beautiful neighborhood based on the anonymous vitriol of your most misguided residents.
    (Seriously? Angry at the *food bank*?! Tragically misguided, guys.)
    Haters gonna hate because that’s all they know. The rest of us will celebrate the amazing work that this agency does and will continue to do.

  35. our car club, the greenwood knights, donated $8000 to the greenwood food bank last year from the proceeds of the greenwood car show. we hope to up that amount after this year’s show on june 26th. quit hatin’ and start donatin”. greenwoodcarshow dot com.

  36. Hi, Name. Yes, I did say, “I’m irritated by aggressive homeless vagrants as much as the next person, but do you want them to go hungry?”
    And you replied “Yes. I do. You should, too, unless you want more of them.”
    I really don’t want anyone to go hungry. But I’m not, repeat NOT dropping coins in hats ever. I have travelled to many developing nations. I have seen hunger in thousands of faces. This I where I’m coming from. When it comes to food and water, people are human, period.

    I want Ballard Food Bank to continue distributing food to hungry people, no questions asked. And I want passers by to stop giving cash to substance abusers.

    If people are chronic substance abusers, that is another issue. If they are mentally ill, that is another issue. If they commit crimes or disturb the peach, that is yet another issue. Please separate hunger from the rest of these issues.

  37. Amen jitter!

    Seriously, get over the hate towards the food bank. They’re not giving out alcohol and drugs to anyone, last I checked. I think that’s the fuel behind the mayhem: a can of malt liquor, not a can of spam.

  39. Maybe if they didn’t spend all their money on beer, cigarettes and drugs they would have enough to feed themselves.

    Or you can pretend you’re helping the hobos.

  40. Brownboard, the closer the hobos get to the food bank, the better they behave. The foodbank is strict about behavior at their site. But down on Market or over by Salmon Bay?

  42. How about a breathalyzer at the food bank? If you can afford to get drunk should you really be taking good from those who spend their
    money wisely?

  43. Bum-motels, Hobo-tels, food banks, car camps, sex offenders hiding in church shelters, library and parks over run, needles in the parks and on the streets.

    At what point can Ballard say we have enough already?

  45. Uh, I’ve been in line for the food bank a few times. I’m not a drunken bum. Just unemployed.
    It’s a great program that should be supported even more in these hard times.

  46. The Ballard Food Bank did not mean any dishonesty in announcing an undisclosed location. We needed to ensure that the location was a go prior to announcing the address. The property we are moving to is light industrial zoning. Yes, there are apartments, condos and even a few houses within a small distance of the new food bank. The property we will be leasing has parking, additional square footage and is on the bus line.

    Why are we moving? Because we are out of capacity at our current location. We are serving up to 1,100 people each week and are not able to adequately deal with those numbers in our current building.

    Who are we serving? We are serving our neighbors that need their basic needs met. Most of our neighbors are regular folks that have had illness, a layoff or other difficult situations in their life. It is a small percentage that could be labeled homeless.

    Thank you Ballard for your support – our tag line, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, says it all.

  48. Utopian? How about reality. There are many unemployed people in OUR neighborhood that are hungry. The bus line isn’t changing, just the location.

  51. I volunteered at the Fremont food bank (located in Wallingford). I’d say that 95% of the people who went there were families. However, a good 65% of those people were SO rude! Picking though the cans and scoffing that we didn’t have the type of beans they wanted. We had homeless that came in and got the cookless bags which contained peanut butter, bread, some snack bars, juice and some other random items. Out of the 10 or so that came one day, 9 of them gave back their peanut butter saying they were sick of it and many asked for other items. Both groups were very picky which astonished me. I guess I don’t really have a point… that is just my two cents on the type of people who go to the food banks. I guess I don’t really have an opinion on where they should be located. They didn’t seem to have much problem with the people who came to the food bank there and I can’t say I ever saw a bum when I went to Hamilton or had any problem with anyone.

  52. Yippee! Win, win all around. The current location is terrible- small facility, poor parking, neighborhood problems, people forced to wait in line outside,etc.

    The new location looks to be better situated, better parking, less residential, more adequate space, better hours to serve the folks that work, and for me… extended hours meas I can volunteer to help these folks on evening or weekends. I love to help this organization help people in need. I love to donate to them and I love it when idiots make ridiculous and uneducated claims about the foodbank because it makes me want to help them more!

  53. The problem is that Ballard has “bum fatigue”. I sure do – I’ve had enough. I am no longer doing ANYTHING to help assist ANY homeless organization in Ballard (I used to make financial donations but not anymore). Why? Because Ballard has become the destination of choice for lowlifes who have ruined our streets, our shopping, our parks, our library, our bus stops, the list goes on. The Food Bank is a nice idea, and I’d like to support them if they were serving only those who deserve a helping hand. The problem is that they give handouts to those who simply are living off others. The bums choose to be bums, and I choose to stop enabling them. Yes, many of the homeless are decent people. But until Ballard stops giving anything to anyone who shows up with their hand outstretched, I’m going to discriminate. When this neighborhood grows up and decides it’s not going to be in a dysfunctional codependent relationship with these creeps, then I’ll happily support the Food Bank and other efforts to help those who deserve our help. But as long as the Food Bank and others give handouts indiscriminately, I will withhold my support and I encourage others to do so as well.

    Giving handouts to the bums only makes Ballard’s vagrant problem worse. As far as I’m concerned, that, no matter how well intentioned, is part of the problem, not part of the solution. The Food Bank and other well-meaning efforts are not doing these creeps any favors by helping them maintain their chosen lifestyle – and they’re certainly not doing Ballard any favor, either. The best thing the Food Bank could do for the vagrants (and for Ballard) would be to show them some tough love: no unconditional handouts. Show up sober, be respectful, and be willing to perform an hour of community service in exchange for all the handouts – that would quickly separate the sincere, appreciative homeless from the lazy creeps.

    How about it, Food Bank folks? Are you willing to ask recipients to abide by a basic set of requirements? Or is it “anything goes”? Are you willing to be part of the solution to Ballard’s bum problem, or are you going to just perpetuate it by turning a blind eye and enabling them?

  54. Neighbor,

    I fully understand your position, and I appreciate your logic. However, being close enough to homelessness and starvation myself *this year* if not for some handouts from friends (including food), I entirely support the efforts of the Ballard Food Bank.

    We in our building have had multiple donation events for the Ballard Food Bank, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, not because of or in spite of the “bums” that patronize it, but because of the folks who lost a job during a terrible economy or due to illness or injury had to choose between shelter and food.

    I think that a more aggressive strategy for getting rid of the unwanted in Ballard is perhaps the way to go. Why not hand out blow-horns to every residence in Ballard, then have people point them at a “drunken bum” and let loose every time you find one? The library may be an unpleasant place to be for a few days, but then it will likely be peaceful except for the laughter of children. I might even travel down the alley between Market and 56th just for fun, if that were the case. I’m getting tired of them screaming down my street. When I suggested, “shhh, it’s quiet time” to one of them on Sunday, I was told, “YEAH, SHHH. F*CK OFF!” That passes, of course, but when there was a huge pile of human poop out front my building and my dog ate it, that was really uncool. Seriously. Eww.

    Then again, maybe we all just take pictures like they’re celebrities, then bombard the police station with sightings. I dunno. Something has to be done. If they weren’t making my living space uncomfortable, I wouldn’t mind. When I moved here, we had a band of “regulars” that self-modulated and were never offensive, never pooped in areas I went anywhere near, actually said pleasant things like “good morning” and never screamed profanities within earshot. I miss those days.

  55. Good riddance…

    We used to give to the Food Bank several times a year – not any more. I have no compassion – let all the homeless starve, I don’t give a crap. Get the hell out of my neighborhood and go piss is some other bush.

  56. How about to use the foodbank, they have to put in some work? Volunteer at the foodbank itself, clean up a park, clean grafitti …do something for it….weed out the freeloaders from the people who are truly down on their luck.

    I for one am tired of the freeloaders and the rude people who think they are entitled to a handout. They need to go….and it doesn’t make me a less caring person for not wanting their kind of trash in my neighborhood. I havent’ heard from the people defending the homeless how to address this. To simply ignore that fact and pretend they don’t exist undermines your credibility to be honest.

    However, I fully acknowledge that not all are freeloaders. So let’s keep that in mind as well. It is true that the services have good intentions especially when they can reach and help people get back on their feet to where they don’t need them anymore. But, there has to be a way to separate people willing to work from freeloaders who frankly will never help themselves and be continuous repeat customers.

  58. I like getting on this site and seeing if I can find a post that doesn’t become an ridiculous “debate” about homelessness. I call it MyBallard bingo….first to 5 wins!

  59. I really like the suggestion above to require an hour of volunteer work – SOME show of sincerity. Clean up trash (no shortage of need there), remove some graffiti, etc.

    Just *one* hour of their time – is that really so much to ask? I bet that would very quickly separate the truly needy and appreciative homeless from the lazy bums – you the freeloaders would get in a huff, rant and walk away, like spoiled children. Fine. Let them go someplace where “anything goes” and there are zero expectations.

    I’d like to see this applied to ALL services for the homeless in Ballard. You would never tell your child that they can do whatever they want and there are no consequences for inappropriate behavior – why doesn’t this same logic apply to those who show up with their hands out?

  60. Everyone knows the posts that feed the myballard monkey:

    bums
    bikes
    Burke gilman

    throw in the occassionally stories on:

    condos
    tagging
    scando business closing

    and bingo, let the fun begin!

  61. I’m a Ballard food bank client. I have a graduate degree, a beloved child & a home here in the neighborhood, just like most of you. Unfortunately, layoff + nasty divorce = I can’t afford food (yet don’t qualify for food stamps until my unemployment runs out). THIS COULD HAPPEN TO ANY OF YOU. Thank goddess for neighborhood help!

  62. As to Ballard-ite’s suggestion that using the food bank requires an hour of volunteering, generally I’d be in favor. But:

    -Many clients, like me, are single moms of young children. Volunteering is difficult for us legally (liability for volunteer sites; most won’t allow kids under 14 – I’ve tried) and logistically (how to supervise young kids while working, not to mention fitting in volunteering with paying jobs, for those who still have them).

    -Supervising the client-volunteers will require more food-bank-staff hours. It’s my understanding that Ballard food bank is already short-staffed (although most of the volunteers are current or former clients). Would you rather that food bank staff supervise neighborhood painting, or hand out food?

    -Visiting the food bank is humbling enough. The staff there is gracious and welcoming, fortunately. But putting more road blocks in front of already-down people may mean that some people just give up and go away hungry – and that their kids go hungry.

    -Do we really want to change the essence of giving, to one that requires a transactional payment? “The quality of mercy is not strained/It blesseth him that gives/and him that takes.”

  63. I’m no fan of the bums*, but we really need to stop equating the food bank with the bums. Two different things here.
    If you want to cut down on the unpleasant aspects of the bums, you should be calling the police and telling them to do their job and start citing people for drinking in public, littering, and crapping on your lawn. If the bums aren’t being a nuisance and committing crimes, then what’s the problem? If you just don’t like looking at homeless people, well then I don’t really have a solution there.

    *as we all know bums are often homeless, but most homeless are not often bums and most of the people served by the food bank are neither homeless nor bums.

  64. just drove by the food bank. not a *bum* in sight. they are probably not up yet. that being said, the idea of volunteering is brilliant.

    seasons–i can see you obstacles. don’t pull a bible verse for sympathy though. that’s pretty transparent.

    if the merchants in ballard are motivated about changing the situation, why not come up with something that would involved those volunteering to receive a voucher of some sort indicating they have contributed set amount of time. i know, i know another step with potential fraud, but you need to make an initial investment to get an effective program up and running. it would need some tweeking….

  66. Ive noticed that more people are hanging out at Gilman pk ( 9th & 53rd NW ) who don’t seem to have anywhere else to go. Not really the kind of place where I would want to take little kids if I had them.

    Bottles of( beer/urine) left for days underneath trees- add this to the absentee landlords in the immediate vicinity who don’t care that they are collecting rent money from drug dealers and combined with the other attractions of Ballard/Seattle and we are well on our way to reducing livability for families.

  67. Regarding requiring Food Bank recipients to volunteer for a hour of their time…..I note that over in the “Open Forum” (in the thread “Still Available to Help”) there’s someone (“fabricfanatic”) who says her husband volunteers at the Food Bank and who also says the Food Bank is “in need of volunteers”.

    So it appears the Food bank itself needs volunteers. We all know there’s certainly plenty of trash around Ballard to be picked up (maybe start with the beer bottles at Gilman Park…), lots of Graffiti to be cleaned up, and plenty of other basic tasks needing to be done to turn around the rapid decline in the quality of our neighborhood.

    Why not ask for just one or two hours a month from those who are receiving the benefits of the Food Bank? Too challenging for single moms? Fine. Show up with your kids and get a free pass for the month – the bums are not going to borrow children to get their ticket punched. I’m sure there will be some others with valid reasons why that would impose an extra burden on them, and I’m equally sure that the smart, well-meaning folks at the Food Bank could easily find a way to help them get around the requirement. The bums who show up for a handout – they will be the ones who get indignant and cause a stink. So be it. They can take that stink someplace else.

    If I see the Food Bank institute some sort of requirement like this, I’ll write them a nice fat check right on the spot, and I’ll continue to support them. But as long as they are “enablers” of the bum lifestyle, they’ll get no support (or sympathy) from me. I would urge other current and former Food Bank supporters to do the same.

  68. The logistics of volunteering are legit. Thank you for taking the time to post that. A person in your situation receiving help is something I can understand and will not complain about. However, what you need to understand is that that there are people who are not like you, who are simply looking for a handout and are not ever going to take steps to better their lives and those people in turn start to affect my life when I can’t walk down the street without be pestured, or their trash ends up in my yardwaste bin and I need to clean it out. It’s these people that make giving to people like you hard to do without some measure of control. Sorry, but that’s reality in my view.

    There are a lot of people posting on here who are better people than me who think that there is an obligation to provide services to people in need. Don’t read to much into that. I’m not being critical or judgemental about it – that’s just fact.

    Maybe the people who really really really support this food bank and services like this can also put up and go down to volunteer to do things like coordinating “client” volunteer work or even volunteering for childcare while volunteer work is happening. If you want it so bad and support it, then roll up your sleeves and get to work! Maybe you already do this. If so, it would be great to hear about those efforts.

    I’m not a huge supporter of this to the point that I could see myself doing that. There are other volunteer opportunities that I involve myself in that I’m more passionate about. However, I’m not completely against it either. There is a cost and benefit to everything. Some people legitimately do need help. The cost are the freeloaders. Some revelopment of of old buildings is needed, the cost is too many condos and traffic and on and on and on.

  69. I live one block from the new Ballard Food Bank location so I’d hardly call it an industrial area. 17th Avenue is already a “vagrant freeway” that leads from 7-11 to numerous drug houses on the way south to Leary, and I’m hoping that the Food Bank is a positive thing for my community rather than a magnet for drunks and petty thieves.
    However, I’m not terribly optimistic.

  70. Thank goodness for the BFB, and others like it. Beside food, they help in other ways. This past month, they paid a portion of my rent when I suddenly fell very ill (without insurance) and could not work. I will also get some food soon. I have several degrees and worked for 40 years, but haven’t been able to work full time for several years. I am just one of many who would rather be independent and supporting myself.

  71. That’s great Almost, no one here thinks you shouldn’t be helped and I’d rather see private groups help than the government.

    However, Ballard does have a drunken bum issue and the fewer of those th bank helps the better.

    How about a breathalyzer test for any suspected drunks, and a refusal to admit them? If they want to waste their money on booze, smokes and dope, surely your food should be saved fir more deserving people?

  72. I’m legitimately torn about the move. I live in the Russell Park Apartments, which is right across the street from the new location (behind the VW dealership). On one hand, I’m thankful for the services that BFB provides, and I’d love to help and volunteer. If I’m completely honest though, I think I’d rather have them be elsewhere. Charity is easy when you can choose when and to what degree you wish to give it. It’ll be a growing experience if nothing else.

  73. Wow! Such indignant and self-serving prose offered up here based on good organization gaining more space. Thank goodness all of you who have nasty things to say aren’t in the position of having to go to a food bank… or have a brother or sister or mother or father that need that bit of help now and then.

    Must be nice to have such a self-centered universe to live in.

  74. Come to think of it, I am glad they are in that neighborhood. It needs more traffic at all hours of the day, not less. More people in the area means less shenanigans left unnoticed. I can only hope more business and residential move into that “light industrial ” zone all the way south east towards Fred Mayer and Hales. More foot/car/bike traffic please. Harder for the drug dealers to hide.

  75. I’m not a fan of the homeless, either… as a single girl I get nervous around them.

    And I know for a fact the majority of foodbank users are NOT homeless. I know this because I’ve relied on the foodbank in the past.

    HOWEVER, complaining about homeless people going to the foodbank is ridiculous? Its basically saying that just because someone doesn’t have shelter, that they don’t deserve food, either?! That’s absurd! EVERYONE deserves to eat! Its not like the food at the foodbank is like the Ritz, its BASIC food! Sure every now & then you might get a treat there, but for the most part, it is basic food!

    GOOD GRIEF PEOPLE! Show some humanity!

  76. Oh, puh-lease, spare us the holier-than-thou lectures about humanity.

    There’s an obvious difference between “the homeless” and the scumbags that need to be driven out of Ballard. I can tell the difference, and you could too if you were willing to climb down from your rainbow-colored unicorn and look.

    We’re sick and tired of the bums. The drunks, the vagrants and creeps that have taken over Ballard. Not “the homeless”, not “all the Food Bank users.” The bums.

    There’s a difference, even though you want to pretend there isn’t.

    The only people here who can’t tell the difference between “the homeless” and “the bums” are those who refuse to look.

  77. It’s funny how it’s the defenders of the BFB who are conflating bums with regular folks who need a little help.

    “! EVERYONE deserves to eat!”

    Especially after you blow all your money on booze, cigarettes and dope.

  78. Wow, the intelligence of posters on this forum has reached a new low. Yes, there are many people who are in a tough situation that need help and there are vagrants that are causing the majority of problems that need a swift kick in the ass to move down the road. How about instead of giving money to homeless people that potentially use the money for 40’s give it to soup kitchens or maybe the food bank.

  79. I am part of the group that puts together the Empty Bowls event which raised over $10,000 for the Ballard Food Bank this year. I have zero tolerance for the drunk/drugged out bums, however they are a very small percentage of who the Food Bank helps. Below are some stats that I got from Nancy McKinney from the Ballard Food Bank on who they help every week.

    Things To Know

    Clients are allowed to visit only once per week.

    Their food distribution average is up 25% from last year to 108,282lbs of food a month.

    They serve an average of 2,712 homes, or 3,903 people each month.

    Their average client break down is as follows ~
    0-2 years old = 1%, 33 individuals
    3-18 years old = 13%, 526 individuals
    19-54 years old = 63%, 2,468 individuals
    55 + = 22%, 876 individuals

    The guesstimate on the percentage of homeless served is based on people requesting a “no cook” bag. This came to an average of 75 homeless clients per week.

    So, out of 3,903 of our friends and neighbors, 300 are possibly homeless. I’ll take those odds.

  80. I am part of the group that puts together the Empty Bowls event which raised over $10,000 for the Ballard Food Bank this year. I have zero tolerance for the drunk/drugged out bums, however they are a very small percentage of who the Food Bank helps. Below are some stats that I got from Nancy McKinney from the Ballard Food Bank on who they help every week.

    Things To Know

    Clients are allowed to visit only once per week.

    Their food distribution average is up 25% from last year to 108,282lbs of food a month.

    They serve an average of 2,712 homes, or 3,903 people each month.

    Their average client break down is as follows ~
    0-2 years old = 1%, 33 individuals
    3-18 years old = 13%, 526 individuals
    19-54 years old = 63%, 2,468 individuals
    55 + = 22%, 876 individuals

    The guesstimate on the percentage of homeless served is based on people requesting a “no cook” bag. This came to an average of 75 homeless clients per week.

    So, out of 3,903 of our friends and neighbors, 300 are possibly homeless. I’ll take those odds.

    I used to be pretty anti-homeless support. However, then I worked on an awareness video for The Orion Center (youthcare dot org. I learned that the vast majority of homeless teens become that way not because they were stubborn teens who thought they knew better and didn’t want to obey their parents… but because their parents (or their partners) sexually abused them, had addiction problems, or were homeless themselves. When you’ve seen a tough looking 250lb black man break down talking about how he fled to the streets because his Mom’s boyfriend molested and abused him, you know he’s not lying.

    Homeless teens become homeless adults, unless something (or someone) intervenes.

    I will still be supporting the Ballard Food Bank this season. Now more than ever they need our help and support. These are families, our neighbors, the people we interact with every day that need some help. They help everyone, regardless. I’ll help those 559 hungry children even though it means some homeless bum types are getting food there as well.

    Do you want to be the one to tell those kids they have to go hungry… again… because your bias against the homeless minority kept you from donating?

  81. “Do you want to be the one to tell those kids they have to go hungry… again… because your bias against the homeless minority kept you from donating?”

    If necessary, yes.

    But once again you’re conflating “the homeless” with “the bums.” Why do Food Bank supporters insist on doing this EVERY time? It’s completely dishonest.

    As long as the Food Bank enables the bums, they’re doing harm to the neighborhood. Does the “good” they do outweigh the “harm” they do? You obviously think so. I’m not so sure.

    This neighborhood has declined so much, we’ve got to draw the line somewhere against enabling the bums. As long as the Food Bank continues to give them handouts, I can’t support them.

    My first choice would be for the Food Bank to deny handouts to the bums, and help the homeless – then I’d happily support them.

    I don’t see why that’s so hard. Why is it?

  82. Really? The only noticeable change in Ballard that sticks out is all the douche bags that hang out on Ballard Ave. and the parking sucks.

  83. My understanding is that the majority of the clients served by Ballard Food Bank are NOT homeless. They are neighbors from Ballard, Magnolia, and Queen Anne who require grocery assistance so as to avoid having to chose between a meal and other basic needs.

  85. Compassion (from Latin: “co-suffering”) is a virtue —one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy (for the suffering of others) are regarded as a cornerstone of greater social interconnectedness and humanism —equivalent to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood.

  86. Compassion on Ballard Commons these days means spending your money on booze and drugs then asking Ballard to pick up the tab for dinner.

  87. “So, the “bums” dont even deserve a partially moldy loaf of bread & an over-ripe apple from the food bank?”

    I’d be delighted if a food bank SOMEWHERE ELSE would give Ballard’s bums some nice free food so they can relax and spend all their panhandled cash on alcohol and drugs.

    But here? No. We have too many bums here already, and giving them more hand-outs only attracts more of them. Let them go find some other neighborhood filled with suckers.

  88. 62% of the households that western WA foodbanks serve count a job, social security, SSI, unemployment or disability as a main source of income.
    37% of the hungry people these foodbanks serve are children.
    13% of the hungry people these foodbanks serve are seniors.
    Only 15% are actually homeless.
    Nearly 45% of the individuals using a food bank, meal program or shelter in Western Washington have some form of post-secondary education.

  89. Who do you propose decides who is worthy and who isn’t? Not feeding the bums may sound good to you in theory, but how do you expect the food bank to make the distinction between simply the down and out homeless and the bums? If need be, I’m guessing they could sober up enough to go get food. Who decides?

    Can you imagine the outcry from people and the backlash if the food bank started getting picky… and picked wrong? We are talking about a small percentage of misfits here, not worth the trouble to the food bank to try and weed them out, not to mention not very charitable either. The problem starts elsewhere, stop picking on the food bank just because they seem to be an easy target.

  90. I would love to respond to some of the questions and ideas suggested in this thread.

    Expanded Services: Expanded service and hours means that we will offer our evening hours on site instead of loading up a van and distributing food at a nearby church. It also means that we will have one small office space to offer extended referral services. Beyond that we may look at a couple of weekend hours.

    Volunteers: We have approximately 1,100 people shopping for food each week. It would be insurmountable for us to manage each of them volunteering an hour. We do currently have over 100 people volunteering each week.

    Behavior Issues: The food bank staff is consistent about dealing with behavior issues. We ask people to leave that are: under the influence of drugs/alcohol, belligerent, etc. A breathalyzer test is not be something we could do. I can just imagine the ACLU at our door.

    Service: We will continue to give food to all individuals that come in looking for that service. We are in fact under contract to do just that with several supporting agencies. It is a very basic need to have food to eat. We could argue all day long about who is deserving of basic needs.

    WB is correct; most of our clients are not the people that have been negatively portrayed. There is a huge problem here in Ballard and elsewhere in the country. The problem is not food banks; in my opinion the problem starts with a lack of support for people with mental health issues and a severe shortage of low income housing.

    I am always happy to meet with neighbors to talk about our mission and program.

    Nancy McKinney

  91. “We ask people to leave that are: under the influence of drugs/alcohol, belligerent, etc.”

    That’s right, it’s off into Ballard for you drunk hobo!

  92. For anyone who would like to join me to support the Food Bank (besides Name, Fed Up and Barfly) by donating or volunteering, visit ballardfoodbank.org

    I am proud to be on the board of the Ballard Food Bank and supporting neighbors in need. We are bursting at the seams at our current location on 24th. We are thankful to have dedicated supporters, volunteers and generous donors. These folks are not necessarily commenting on blogs but are still a silent majority in our community. And yes, our volunteers are a great mixture of both food bank clients and other neighbors.

    Even though there is a distinct need for more of our services by families in tough times, we are at capacity for one singular reason: space.

    Our new location is going to give us space, better hours for working families who need our help, and be a phenomenal, clean, easily accessible facility – with a demonstration kitchen, pea-patch garden and other fantastic opportunities worthy of support.

    In our search for a new location we were looking for someplace that provided us operations flexibility so that we could minimize any negative activity around the food bank and maximize service to clients.

    We live in an urban area and can choose to either deal with hard social issues our economy brings or ignore them. Nancy and the volunteers at the BFB – thank you for dealing with them head-on in a way that shows integrity, compassion and backbone.

    Keep up the good work.

  93. “any negative activity around the food bank”

    Hang on, are you admitting the food bank attracts negative elements? Wow, what an admission, I guess we are right to complain about the drunks and dopers who have over run Ballard.

  94. I think that the food bank provides a valuable service to the neighbors of Ballard. And if a person can show a lease or a bill addressed to the person, then yes, help feed the neighbor.

    I volunteered at the food bank in new mexico and I know food banks provide a valuable service to people who are temporarily in need of help. for that matter, there was a time when I had to use the food bank in NM.

    But the bums, the vagrant drunks who hang out and beg and piss everywhere and crap on the sidewalk are not our neighbors. They are people taking advantage of the food bank if they use it, as they are getting free food so they can have money to spend on alcohol and drugs.

  95. The Ballard Food Bank does important work, lots of it. It’s fantastic to see this nonprofit organization growing. Sadly we have more neighbors who need the Food Bank’s services.

    Thank you Ballard Food Bank staff and volunteers.

  96. ” Sadly we have more neighbors who need the Food Bank’s services”

    Exactly, so why give food to vagrants who would rather spend their money on booze and dope?

  97. Barfly – there is negative activity at all sorts of businesses all around Ballard. In the case of the food bank Jessie stated negative activity NOT negative elements.

  98. Laura says, “And if a person can show a lease or a bill addressed to the person, then yes, help feed the neighbor. ”

    This is exactly what is required – showing a utility bill addressed to you, with a Ballard/Magnolia/Queen Anne zip code – in order to be given food at Ballard Food Bank. So yes, the food bank clients are all neighbors.

  99. “showing a utility bill addressed to you”

    Yes, my name is…err…..what does it say here…..that’s right, my name is “Ballard Guy’. See it says it on this bill I found.

  100. I’m new to Ballard, as of a year and a half ago, having moved here from a life-long residency in Michigan (I take care of my friend who has Asperger’s syndrome) and I see the persons that are being discussed on this forum.

    I don’t know if these people are homeless, or transients, as they are different appearing from what I was used to seeing in Detroit – those being generational vagabonds – born into poverty and never choosing to get out of that lifestyle. Never wanting anything better. They differ in their facial expressions: here, they are empty, there’s nothing behind their eyes and they seem feral-like as if they came out here a long time ago seeking something and, instead, lost their minds becoming deranged and I find myself more wary of them than leery, as I was in Detroit.

    I think food banks have their place in society and they should be reserved for those who truly are in need of them and not patronize those that may be parasitic. This, I believe, is where the City needs to step in and gain some sort of social order and control over the street urchins. It was too late for Detroit and I hope it’s not too late for Seattle, especially this little town of Ballard, which seems to be rich with a quaintness of young prospering professionals and families.

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