Volunteer opportunities in Ballard

Lately, we’ve been getting questions about volunteer opportunities in Ballard. With some very active nonprofits in the area, there are a number of ways to give back to the community, so we thought we’d put together a list of local organizations and their needs.

Ballard Senior Center

The center is looking for a few volunteers to join their kitchen crew. Volunteers must need a food worker card — the center can help you take the test if you don’t have one. “Our Community Dining Program serves over 10,000 meals a year. This is an amazing and delicious program. Training is provided,” they write. The hours would be a two- to four-hour shift, once per week.

Ballard Food Bank

The food bank has positions available four days a week, and they’re always looking for more volunteers.

• Sorting & Stocking Shelves: Over 1.45 million pounds of food are donated, recovered, or purchased by us each year. Our volunteers help us sort food and stock our shelves four days a week.
• Food Recovery: Four days a week we recover food from our local grocery store partners. As a driver or a rider you will be out in the community helping pick up food and bringing it back to the food bank. 
• Grocery Helper: As a grocery helper you will be stationed around the food bank to answer questions and help clients as they shop. You may also help clients bag their groceries. 

Trinity United Methodist’s Soup Kitchen

The Saturday Soup Kitchen program at Trinity serves a diverse group of between 60 and 100 men, women, and children who are homeless and/or have a low/fixed income.  Since 2007, our non-denominational, non-sectarian soup kitchen has been serving a light breakfast and full lunch.  Learn more about the program on our Frequently Asked Questions page.

The Soup Kitchen runs solely on the support of volunteers.  If you would like to help with food preparation, serving lunch, and/or clean-up, please sign up by clicking here.

Sustainable Ballard Farmer’s Market Gleaning

Every Saturday, a group of volunteers comb through the Ballard Farmer’s Market collecting unsold food for the Ballard Food Bank. They’re looking for people to join, with a commitment of two to three hours on a Sunday.

“This is a great project for people who are interested in keeping good produce out of the compost bin and getting it to our Ballard neighbors in need,” they write. “We love to have high school students participate for their community service hours. We are looking for a few people with a vehicle such as station wagon or pick up for transporting the boxes.”

Sustainable Ballard’s Tool Library

The Tool Library could use several volunteers, from librarians to tool maintenance, outreach and and repair cafe consultants. Here’s a list of the positions they’d like to fill, most of which they’d like a two-hour per month commitment:

• Tool Librarian Staff the Ballard Tool Library during our open hours. Duties include signing up new members, checking tools in and out, accepting and cataloguing tool donations, and being a warm and welcoming presence at the BTL. We encourage tool librarians to sign up for at least 1 shift/month. General experience / knowledge of tools strongly encouraged but not required. Tool Librarian shifts: Saturdays, 8:45am – 11:15am, Sundays, 1:45pm – 3:45pm and 3:30pm – 5:15pm, Tuesdays, 10:45am – 1:15pm, Thursdays, 4:45pm – 6:45pm and 6:30pm – 8:15pm.
• Tool Maintenance Team Member *Calling all volunteers with tool maintenance experience!* Many of our tool could use some TLC, and we’d love your help with monthly maintenance events. If you have experience keeping tools sharpened and maintained, this is the perfect opportunity for you. If you’re willing to help train other volunteers in the fine art of tool maintenance, even better! Beginners are welcome to help with basic cleaning and labeling of tools, although must attend a BTL maintenance training if interested in learning more in-depth upkeep methods.
• Outreach Team Can’t wait to tell everyone about the awesome Tool Library you just joined? Become a part of our outreach team! We’d love your help with anything from crafting perfect social media posts to posting flyers at downtown businesses. Outreach for our Grand Opening event is just ramping up, so join now to help spread the word and make this event a great success!
• Repair Cafe Consultant Do you have a skill you’d love to share? A knack for fixing items otherwise destined for the landfill? Sign up to be a repair consultant at our monthly drop-in BTL Repair Cafes– every third Thursday of the month from 6pm – 8pm. During the Repair Cafe, you will help community members fix their broken items, teach maintenance tips, and share your passion for fixing/creating with interested participants.
• Workshop Leader Would you like to share your passion for woodworking, embroidery, gardening, car maintenance, etc? Volunteer to lead a workshop at Ballard Tool Library! We can provide the tools, you provide the knowledge! Workshops are planned about a month in advance, and you will be working with our tool library manager or an experienced volunteer to plan and execute the event.
• Tool Photographer We’ve worked hard to register hundreds of tools into our inventory software, but we know it’s much easier to browse with photos included. Volunteer a few hours of your time to take photos of our tools and add them to each tool’s online profile. No fancy equipment needed, digital camera or smartphone photos are fine!
• Join our CraftsmanCorps! CraftsmanCorps is our network of skill experts willing to answer questions about their areas of expertise. No time commitment is required, just a willingness to be a resource for BTL’s tough-to-answer questions.

If you know of more volunteer opportunities in Ballard, email us at tips@myballard.com.

Photo from Ballard Food Bank’s Facebook page