Amazon Steps Up Hunger Relief in Hometown

As the nation continues to struggle with the impacts of COVID-19, Amazon has formed a strategic partnership with Seattle’s Ballard Food Bank and donated $750,000 toward the Hope Beyond Hunger capital campaign to help fund a new building that will offer resources to local families at risk of hunger.

The multifaceted partnership includes Amazon grants totaling $500,000 to support Ballard Food Bank’s future home — scheduled to open in fall 2021. Another $250,000 will go to support innovative community programs and markets where families can shop and access healthy food with dignity. The two organizations are also exploring how Amazon’s employees can bolster the 190-person volunteer force that fuels the food bank’s operations.

“Amazon is committed to addressing basic needs to help ensure children and their families are supported with the resources that they need,” said Bettina Stix, Amazon director of right now needs and disaster relief. “With our partnership and donation to Ballard Food Bank, we are laying the groundwork together for long-lasting, innovative hunger relief programs that leverage Amazon’s scale for good and help drive forward the organization’s critical work to alleviate hunger and strengthen the Northwest Seattle community.”

Ballard Food Bank’s future location at 1400 N.W. Leary Way will serve an expanded area encompassing Licton Springs through Bitter Lake and up to 145th Street. Several of these communities have pressing needs that will benefit from the food bank’s ability to provide greater access to nutritious food and other services. The new 11,000-square-foot building will feature a larger grocery store-style food bank and improved Community Resource Hub, where organizations will offer housing assistance, medical care, veterans’ benefits and more. 

“This is an exciting investment in Ballard Food Bank’s ability to serve people in our community — now and for generations to come. Our partnership with Amazon will help build our amazing new home and bring critical resources to families at risk of hunger,” said Jen Muzia, executive director of Ballard Food Bank. “Amazon has answered the call at a critical time when so many of our neighbors are struggling with the impacts of COVID-19.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, Ballard Food Bank was already overflowing with 3,200 household visits and deliveries each month; that number has now doubled to 6,400. Staff and volunteers have met this dramatic increase by quickly pivoting their service model to safer drive-thru and home delivery, avoiding person-to-person contact as much as possible.

“With so many people coming to us for food, our old space just doesn’t work anymore. Our food bank is set up like a grocery store where people can browse and choose the food they need. When it’s safe to have people back inside, we will absolutely need a bigger space in a new home,” added Muzia.

This will be the first building that Ballard Food Bank has owned — an effort that has brought together such supporters as The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the city of Seattle, the state of Washington, and many individual donors.

“This is an important moment for Ballard Food Bank. Needs have soared in the past year, and many people who have never been to a food bank now need help to feed their families. I’m proud of Amazon’s leadership and commitment to support these critical efforts,” said Nina Lindsey, Amazon global manager of operations support and a member of Ballard Food Bank’s board of directors.

With Amazon’s knack for novel ideas, the retailer and Ballard Food Bank are also exploring other innovative hunger relief programming, including leveraging Amazon’s logistics network to donate delivery services through its Community Delivery program and piloting a food and supply purchasing project.

Based in Seattle, Amazon recently released plans to open a new futuristic second headquarters on the East Coast in Arlington, Virginia. Amazon is No. 2 on Progressive Grocer’s 2020 PG 100 list of the top food and consumables retailers in the United States, while its Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods banner is No. 24.