SEATTLE — It's the season of giving and food banks across Seattle are hoping people will embrace that holiday spirit, giving back where they can.
"If you have time and you have a little time to do it, give a little bit of that time to help out people," said John Walker, one of the hundreds of people lining up outside of North Helpline’s Bitter Lake Food Bank on Saturday morning.
"You don't want to be hungry,” said Walker. “That shouldn't be that way in this country. So, to have something like this here, where you can food and make it through the week."
There's no shortage of people needing food this holiday season. But there is a shortage of resources these food banks can rely on.
"An unprecedented need of funding at a time when funding has gone down in a lot of different areas,” said Kelly Brown, the executive director of North Helpline. “It's uncertain and we really need our community to come together to make sure that we're able to meet the needs of our neighbors so that they can have food on their table and a roof over their head."
Brown said the Bitter Lake location and its other location in Lake City serve nearly 1,600 people on average each week. "We're seeing a lot more folks accessing services now than we did during the peak of the pandemic," said Brown.
Brown said food banks are not only in need of monetary and food donations, but volunteers as well.
One of the volunteers helping out Saturday was a familiar face to the Seattle community.
"You see a lot of hope, you see a lot of smiles and that's worth a lot," said Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell on Saturday morning.
North Helpline's food banks are supported by funding from the city's "Sweetened Beverage Tax." According to the City of Seattle, it provides $34 million annually in investments toward food security and food access for various programs across the city.
"Government and the City of Seattle are committed to you,” said Harrell. “We don't want anybody to be hungry, we don't want anyone to be cold, we want everyone to be healthy."