Fall Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteer through the holidays

Volunteering changes your life and the lives of those around you. Take some time to get involved with your community and meet people that maybe you wouldn't have otherwise! In the heart of one of the nations most diverse zip codes, there's no short of cultural exchange and learning at RVFB. Email volunteer@rvfb.org to sign up for any of the following positions.  

Cookie Party Event Volunteer

November 12th, 4:45pm - 8:00pm

Volunteer for our 5th annual Holiday Cookie Decorating Party! Event volunteers will aid in set up, production and clean-up. Get your frosting on! Email volunteer@rvfb.org to sign up.

Poster Hanging

October 30th - Saturday November 3rd

Help us plaster the city with Cookie Decorating posters! Volunteers can pick up posters at the food bank anytime Tues - Saturday, 8am-2pm. All posters need to be hung within week of October 30th. The following neighborhoods are still available:
- Capitol Hill
- Central District
- Beacon Hill

PCC Packing Party

November 20th, 7pm - 8:30pm

Help package bulk foods donated from PCC Seward Park. Beans, rice and oats, oh my!

More Info.

Seattle Marathon Water Station Volunteers (30 volunteers needed!) 

Sunday November 25th, 10:30am – 2:30pm, Leschi NeighborhoodDawn our new RVFB volunteer t-shirts while handing out water to runners and help them through the course. RVFB has a crew of runners/walkers raising money for us this year called Team Feed. They have raised nearly $2,000 so far. Help us show our support! Great family/group volunteer opportunity. 

Database Support

Tuesdays and Fridays, 11am-2pm (flexible times)

Help us keep our records up to date with weekly data entry. Basic proficiency in MS Excel required. 

Weekly Food Bank Volunteer Positions

Tues 11am-3pm:  Food processing and cleaning warehouse.
Wed 8am-3pm:  Help distribute food to 400 guests.
Thurs 7:30am-11am:  Help prepare 150 food bags for home delivery.

Friday 12pm-3pm:  Food processing and cleaning warehouse.
Saturday 8am-3pm:  Help distribute food to 400 guests.

All volunteers for the above positions must attend an orientation prior to start. Orientations held at the food bank every Saturday at noon. Meet at the tree in front of building.

Home Delivery Driver

Tues or Thurs, 9am - 1pm (flexible time)

RVFB delivers 130 grocery bags to homebound clients each week. We need new volunteers to help drive and deliver! Must have own car and drivers licence. Email volunteer@rvfb.org to sign up. 

Group Volunteer Opportunities

Weekly, Tuesday - Saturday

Get your business, faith group, school or friends involved! 

Groups of up to 30 can be accommodated with customized volunteer opportunities.  

Email volunteer@rvfb.org to sign up. 

Dried Fruit Processing

Mon - Thurs, 10am-4pm

Your volunteer time with ProUse Produce = dried fruit for RVFB ! “Be awesome. Help us feed kids.”  Location: St. Andrews Church,111 NE 80th St, Seattle WA 98115. Email ProUseProduce@gmail.com to sign up.

Cookies! What better way to start the season of giving?

My son Tyler: not so much

Sylvia Gillespie: one serious cookie decorator

Cookie decorating has never been a big thing in my family. Every year when the holidays roll around, it's always been something we mean to do but never seem to squeeze in.  

Last year, we finally did it — elbow to merry elbow with dozens of other families at Geraldine's Counter, which has hosted Rainier Valley Food Bank's annual holiday cooking decorating party every year since it started back in 2008.

We're going again this year, and my kids can't wait to get their hands on those fun tubes of frosting and see how many sprinkles they can get to stick to their cookies. (With a 2- and 4-year-old captaining the cookie-decorating ship at our table, we surely ended the night with more sprinkles on the floor than our cookies, but no one held it against us.)

Kate Hinley has taken her family every year.

"The folks at Geraldine's are warm and welcoming, the room is filled with good cheer, the food is delicious, and the kids are thrilled to be able to make fabulous cookie creations and eat the results. It is a great way to kick off the holiday season by supporting such a good cause."

As delightful as the cookie decorating can be, what means the most to me as a parent and RVFB volunteer is that the restaurant is filled with families who are committed to helping those in need.

Geraldine's co-owner Stacey Hettinger

Each month, Rainier Valley Food Bank is a lifeline for about 11,000 of our hungry neighbors. The food bank could not do what they do without all the donations of food and funds that they get from this generous community.

Geraldine's is one of the food bank's biggest supporters. They donate the space for the cookie party, dinner for everyone, their staff's time, and they spend November and December seeing which staffer can collect the most donations for RVFB.

Over the past four years, Geraldine's staff and proceeds from the cookie party have raised more than $34,000 for RVFB. Talk about a gift!

"It's important for people to be taken care of, to have food — the basics," Geraldine's co-owner Stacey Hettinger says k.

RVFB's 5th Annual Holiday Cookie Decorating Party is on Monday, Nov. 12 at 5 p.m. at Geraldine's. Tickets are $25 per person. Buy yours today — they sell out fast!

A Dear Friend’s Wish Sustains RVFB

In the weeks since we lost a treasured friend this summer, we have been humbled by the outpouring of generosity Patrice Benson’s loved ones have given to Rainier Valley Food Bank.

One of Patrice’s final wishes, as she waged a fiercely courageous but all-too-brief battle with cancer, was for people to donate to the food bank rather than sending her family flowers after she died.

Since she passed away on July 25, we’ve received more than $11,400 in Patrice’s memory. Those contributions will help us feed thousands of our neighbors at a time when hunger in our community is on the rise.

Patrice was deeply involved with so many organizations — the Puget Sound Mycology Society, the Daniel Stuntz Foundation, Les Dames d'Escoffier, the Polish Cultural Center to name a few. So we are that much more touched that she asked the legions of people who loved her to support Rainier Valley Food Bank.

"It fit who she was: feeding, giving, taking care of people, taking care of community," said Jean Zatochill, RVFB board member and Patrice’s best friend.

We are so thankful to have known Patrice, and that her family — Dr. Edward Benson, her husband; daughters Katie and Jill, who volunteers for RVFB and serves on our development committee — supported her generous wish.

Read more about Patrice in Seattle Times’ obituary and in this 2008 Times story, “Mushroom foragers love the thrill of the hunt.”

If you’d like to give in Patrice's memory, you can donate online at rvfb.org, or mail a check to 4205 Rainier Ave S., Seattle, WA 98118.