University District Food Bank – Seattle NAPO Community Service 5-13-2017

I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea that four hours re-arranging supplies, clearing out old stuff, and building shelves could have such power. I naively, ridiculously thought I was going to help “someplace where people can get a few cans of soup to help fill the pantry.” The University District Food Bank is immensely more important than that.

It’s a safe space where nurses provide check-ups for neighborhood residents – the before & after photos above. It’s a grocery delivery service for the home-bound. It’s a meal program for hungry kids. It’s a partner to help people get food stamps. It’s a partner of and resident in University Commons, a housing complex for homeless youth built by the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) and YouthCare with lots of generous support from the City of Seattle, Washington State, KeyBank and Impact Capital. It’s neighbor to Street Bean Coffee (U-District) which sells devilishly good pastries and coffee by employing the University Commons tenants. It’s even a home for bee hives and the veggies and herbs (which go down for distribution at the food bank) they pollinate.

A crew of my colleagues and I from my chapter, Seattle Area, of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO) spent time in community service to the food bank, and we had FUN!!!! We got to use LABEL MAKERS. I got to use my first box crusher – AWESOME ♥. 

Top row, left to right: Denise Allan, Simplify Experts; Steve Webber, Steve’s Organizing LLC; Jean Prominski; Lauri Quadracci, A Clutter Free Home; Joe Gruber, Executive Director, University District Food Bank

Middle row, left to right: me, Ellia Ryan, The Potential Center; Kim Korf, Everything Has A Home; Pam Kopec, Happy Nest Professional Organizers

Bottom row, left to right: Cindy Jobs, CindyJobs.com, Linda Deppa, Uncluttered Professional Organizing. And many more of my colleagues wanted to be here with us, but conflicts happen. They were all with us in spirit. We are a smart, caring, creative, generous and fun-loving bunch. I am very proud to be in their ranks.