The Last Thanksgiving at the Cherry Street Food Bank

A Message from Chief Executive Officer Thomas Reynolds

For more than three decades, Northwest Harvest has offered delicious, festive food and warm greetings for thousands of people at our Cherry Street Food Bank each Thanksgiving. Rain, sleet, cold, wind, or shine, the line snakes up the hill and around the block with those who struggle with hunger—anticipating the opportunity to take home a bag of groceries and to share a moment of connection with our volunteers and staff.

This will be the last Thanksgiving at Cherry Street. The site we have called home for so long is being repurposed for a housing tower. I reflect on the thousands of volunteers over the decades who have sorted cans, portioned rice into bags, made sandwiches, or helped distribute items such as chicken, milk, and fruits and vegetables. I think of the millions of meals that our neighbors have made from the healthy foods we have distributed at Cherry Street. I feel sad about closing the food bank. I am mourning the loss of this connection to the First Hill neighborhood in Seattle. However, we will endeavor to make this the very best Thanksgiving for those who are hungry. I would like everyone who walks out of our food bank to take away a heavy bag of groceries, a smile on their face, and a lightening of burdens that inevitably accompany hunger and poverty—at least for that day.

For Northwest Harvest, for our volunteers, and for our neighbors who struggle with hunger, the story doesn’t end with the demolition of our food bank. Economic inequality is increasing, and the need for what we do is intensifying.

Fortunately, we have found a new home to distribute groceries from in the SODO neighborhood of Seattle. We will build a new home where we can better serve and expand our services for people who struggle with hunger.

As our new location is less than a mile and a half from our current address, we will begin the process of orienting all our neighbors with how to reach us after the move. I love the new location. It’s a bit larger, it has great access to public transportation, it’s located in a food desert, and we will work hard to make it a warm and inviting place for all in our community to regard as a safe and comforting space—one that is theirs as much as it is ours. Moving is an enormous task, and I hope you can be a part of it, whether through financial contributions, joining us in moving our equipment, or even helping us to publicize our move to relevant communities.

Across the state, we continue to supply nutritious foods to hundreds of food banks, schools, and clinics where low-income people rely on a helping hand when they need it most. In this vein, we recognize that much of what we do continues at pace, even as we relocate the heart of our organization down the street in Seattle.

I am grateful for all that life brings to us and grateful to share this community with you. I encourage you to take a moment to tell someone how much they mean to you. Our connection to each other is what supplies joy and power to the human experience.