Give. Share. Eat.
Our next meal packing event is coming up on May 30 and 31!
As of September 2024, volunteers have packaged and distributed over 600,000 meals!
It's pretty simple, really. There are a lot of food-insecure and hungry people in the world. And many more live in King County than we might expect. Together we can relieve some of this hunger when we give of our finances and share our time and energies so that people may eat nutritious, easy-to-prep food. Gethsemane and the Hope Center are collaborating to host epic meal packaging events that bring together area businesses, organizations, and individuals to make a difference in our communities.
See below for ways you individually and/or your organization can help.
Give Money
40 cents feeds a kid, $50 feeds a family of 4 a month of healthy breakfasts. $2,000 adopts an entire assembly line’s production—nearly 5000 meals! Money raised turns into people fed!
Your gift is tax-deductible. As a non-sectarian non-profit, the Hope Center is able to accept matching funds or outright gifts from the business community; if you work please check with your employer to find out if they have matching or granting programs for employee's community service hours and donations. Hope Center is already registered with Benevity (Google, Microsoft, Apple, Astra Zeneca), YourCause (Tableau, etc.), and Nordstrom.
SHARE TIME AND ENERGY
To sign up, please choose a shift and include a name and email address for each volunteer (for children, please give a first name and child's age; use an adult's email).
There are shifts on Friday and Saturday. Each shift can run 5 assembly lines with 6-12 people on each line, and others serving as “runners” who re-stock bulk food supplies for the lines and carry away filled boxes. We ask that you check in for orientation at the assigned time (this allows 30 minutes BEFORE your two-hour packing shift begins and allows us to share information about the project and prep for safe food handling).
NOTE: Please email the coordinator if you need to change or cancel your shift. (Changes cannot be made by participants on the sign-up sheet.)
EAT
To date we have hosted eight events and packaged nearly 600,000 meals! You can see a full list of recipients in the “re-cap” section below.
The May 30-31 meal packing event will be our ninth Give.Share.Eat. event. Nutritious meals will be packed over multiple days and distributed through area food banks, churches, housing programs, school and college campus outreach programs, and more. Despite recent increases to the cost of ingredients, the meal cost remains a bargain, and we are seeking to raise plenty of funds ahead of the event to ensure success. Your support is deeply appreciated!
(please choose Give.Share.Eat)
You can help raise funds in these ways:
Do you have an employer match program? Do your friends? Some employers match contributions of employees and retirees up to a certain dollar amount; some pay the nonprofit for each hour of time you donate. Hope Center, a nonsectarian nonprofit, is already registered with Benevity (Google, Microsoft, Apple, Astra Zeneca), YourCause (Tableau, etc.), Nordstrom.
Direct giving through the Hope Center can be shared online anytime through The Seattle Foundation; in the comments section note: “GSE”
Checks can be made payable to Hope Center and sent to ATTN: Joanne Engquist, 911 Stewart Street, Seattle, WA 98101.
You also may give directly through Gethsemane Lutheran Church's online giving: (please choose Give.Share.Eat.).