The History of Lynnwood Food Bank

The Lynnwood Food Bank started in 1978 as Joseph’s Closet in the Lynnwood Church of the Nazarene, now currently known as Silver Creek Family Church. We have been providing grocery supplements to households with a need in Lynnwood for more than 40 years. In 1982 we became a member of the Snohomish County Coalition of Food Banks operating under the church’s non-profit charitable status. In February 2004, the Food Bank incorporated and we were granted our own separate 501(c)(3) status for donor clarification.


After several years of planning and much growth in our services, we opened the doors to our current facility in 2006, located on the back of the property of Silver Creek Family’s Church just steps from where we began serving our community so many years ago.


The Lynnwood Food Bank has a dedicated Board of Directors with active volunteer members from the community, Silver Creek Family Church, and volunteers of the Food Bank. Our food bank director, Alissa Jones, oversees daily operations of the Food Bank. Our volunteers are the backbone of our organization, with an average of 125 volunteers each month providing an average of 2,750 monthly volunteer hours. Volunteers serve in every aspect of the food bank from driving our vehicles to sorting our donations, from distributing our food to providing data entry, and everything in between.


Providing supplemental groceries for our community is possible because of the generosity that also exists in our community. We received 1,000,000 lbs. of donated food in 2023 in addition to the food we receive from government commodities, Food Lifeline, and Northwest Harvest. We also purchase food with your gifted dollars to balance our groceries out with protein and produce. This allowed us to distribute over 5 million lbs. of food in Calendar year 2023 to 43,574 households and 151,769 individuals. 


Thank you for your support!

The Impact of Lynnwood Food Bank

Lynnwood Food Bank makes an impact in the 5+ million pounds of food that went through our doors in Calendar Year 2023 because we believe that food is love. 


We also made an impact in the health of over 151,000 people by providing nutritious foods, nutrition education, easy access to medical assistance (dental, hypertension, nutrition, COVID), and more because we believe that food is health. 


Our volunteers take the time to know our customers, provide interactions and show love, making an impact on the mental health of our community because we believe that food is community.


LFB also provided thousands of people with cultural foods to help keep cultural traditions alive in times when food is sparse, because we believe that food is culture.


Calendar year (1/1 – 12/31/24) to date: 

 

Individuals

Individuals YTD

Households

Households YTD

Volunteer Hours

Volunteer Hours YTD

Distribu-

tions

 Jan. 2024

13,390

13,390

3,814

3,814

2,238

2,238

18

Feb. 2024

13,096

26,486

3,814

7,628

2,676

5,014

18

Mar. 2024

14,674

41,160

4,249

11,877

2,545

7,559

22

April 20240

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July   2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aug.  2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sep.  2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oct. 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nov. 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dec. 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Calendar Year Comparison

Calendar Year

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

Individuals Served

 

151,769

104,104

70,327

71,090

43,231

39,480

41,391

CHANGE

 

Increase

47,665

45.8%

Increase 33,777

48%

Decrease 763

1.1%

Increase

27,859

64.4%

Increase

3,751

9.5%

Decrease

1,911

4.6%

 

Households Served

 

43,574

29,498

22,104

21,158

16,064

13,429

13,060

CHANGE

 

Increase

14,076

47.7%

Increase

7,394

33.45%

Increase

946

4.5%

Increase

5,094

31.7%

Increase

2,635

19.6%

Increase 369

2.8%

 

Volunteer Hours

 

31,108

29,861

34,821

38,083

35,206

32,752

27,613

CHANGE

 

Increase 1,247

4.2%

Decrease

4,960

14.2%

Decrease

3,262

8.6%

Increase

2,877

8.2%

Increase

2,454

7.5%

Increase

5,139

18.6%

 

**From 2019 to 2023: Increase 108,538 individuals, a 251.1% increase

**From 2019 to 2023: Increase 27,510 households, a 171.3% increase


Fiscal STATS (7/1/2022 – 6/30/24) to date:

 

Individuals

Individuals YTD

Households

Households YTD

Volunteer Hours

Volunteer Hours YTD

July   2023

11,639

11,639

3,267

3,267

2,598

2,598

Aug.  2023

12,552

24,191

3,740

7,007

2,709

5,307

Sep.  2023

13,739

37,930

3,939

10,946

2,149

7,456

Oct. 2023

13,539

51,469

3,868

14,814

2,720

10,176

Nov. 2023

16,266

67,735

4,642

19,456

2,873

13,049

Dec. 2023

13,747

81,482

3,870

23,326

2,829

15,878

 Jan. 2024

13,390

94,872

3,814

27,140

2,238

18,116

Feb. 2024

13,096

107,968

3,814

30,954

2,676

20,792

Mar. 2024

14,674

122,642

4,249

35,203

2,545

23,337

April 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 


Fiscal Year comparison (July 1 – June 30)

Fiscal Year

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

Individuals Served

126,198

82,873

74,110

54,512

42,000

39,053

41,722

40,454

Change

Up 43,325

Up 8,763

Up 19,598

Up 12,512

Up 2,947

Down 2,669

Up 1,268

 

 

Up  52%

Up 12%

26%

22%

 

 

 

 

Households Served

36,148

24,313

22,317

18,358

15,144

12,630

13,199

13,367

Change

Up 11,835

Up 1,996

Up 3,959

Up 3,214

Up 2,514

Down 569

Down 168

 

 

Up 49%

Up 9%

Up 22%

Up 21%

 

 

 

 

Volunteer Hours

33,573

33,256

37,318

38,909

38,077

29,692

27,636

29,972

Change

Up

317

Down

4,062

Down 1,591

Up

832

Up

8,385

Up

2,056

Down

2,336