Helping Hands Food Bank

Mission

Helping Hands Food Bank's mission is to nourish our community with kindness and respect without judgment.

Description

Founded as a 501c3 in 1986, Helping Hands Food Bank has grown to be an independent solutions center with six locations, serving over 18,000 unique clients in Skagit County, Washington. Helping Hands is more than a food bank - we connect the community to solutions. Helping Hands supported 405,827 participant visits in 2021, distributing 3.6 million pounds of high-quality food and addressing the immediate needs when an individual or family comes to us. Setting us apart from other food banks, Helping Hands Food Bank believes there should be no barriers when receiving food; therefore, we do not require identification, residency, or financial requirements to access our services. 

When participants face other complex challenges, the Helping Hands Solutions Team is available to support participants working through them. With our resource center and navigation team, we can enroll them into DSHS and other programs (we have a network of community partners that can help provide temporary housing, health programs, job internships, and more).

Other programs include CHOW (Cutting Hunger on Weekends) which provides food to over 2,300 children monthly. Our Job Skills program is a partnership with WorkSource, teaching skills to those who've been out of the workforce for a time or need to create new skills to get started. The Job Skills Progam, as of 2022, has injected over $750,000 worth of salaries back into the local economy. 

Recognition

We want to thank EVERYONE for their tremendous support to Helping Hands during this unique time of need! We could not continue to support the highest needs we've ever seen without the generosity of our donors.