Bike volunteers step up to help Seattle-area food banks with home deliveries

Food banks have seen a surge in demand since the Covid-19 pandemic struck Washington state. And that’s meant more people than ever needing home deliveries.

These days, food banks are getting additional help from volunteers who are using their pedal power to make deliveries.

Thursday morning at the White Center Food Bank, David Urbina looks at the list of deliveries he’ll be making with fellow volunteers. After figuring out the order of drop offs, the group heads over to the side of the food bank where members of the National Guard hand them boxes of shelf stable food like rice and canned tuna, along with bags filled with lettuce, cucumbers and summer produce.

The team loads up the goodies on their bikes and trailers. Paul Dieter has been volunteering for five weeks. He says it’s fun and it satisfies all the things that are dear to him: advocacy work, and riding his bicycle.

“I’ve been looking for things to do since I’ve been on furlough,” Dieter said. “And I’m constantly looking for ways to engage with community through my bicycle.”

Nearby, David Urbina, who works for the Cascade Bicycle Club, agrees.

“I get exercise, and I get a feeling of comradeship with the people I’m doing this with, and I feel like I’m making a difference,” Urbina said.

Significant spike in the number of Western Washington families without enough food

The volunteer program is part of the Seattle Pedaling Relief Project, a grass roots effort that started in the spring.

Co-founder Maxwell Burton saw an untapped potential.

“We realized that there were many cyclists who were getting very antsy and wanting to get out,” he said.

Burton was one of those people; antsy to ride his bike. He also wanted to help the community.

“I was learning about how food banks were hit by record numbers of people who needed support from the food banks … they were hit with a huge crisis of volunteers.”

Since the group started, more than 200 volunteers have signed up, making home deliveries out of five food banks. The group has branched out to food rescue trips where they pick up food from groceries that have been pulled from shelves.

White Center Associate Executive Director Carmen Smith is grateful for all the help.

“So many of our volunteers are 60 and over and when the Governor issued the Stay Home Stay Healthy order, they adhered to that and we totally supported that,” Smith said. “But it left us with not a lot of support so having different community groups come out and help us has been a tremendous help for us as an organization.”

And the help couldn’t come at a more crucial time. Since the pandemic, demand for food assistance nearly doubled in King County, according to a recent report. Food banks have been swamped. Smith says in August they've already surpassed the amount of food they've distributed in 2019.

The bikes and trailers are loaded and securely tied; Dieter and the rest of the volunteers pedal off. Their first drop is the largest one, at an apartment building less than two blocks away. Janine Jordan starts making calls while the other volunteers make their way to the building.

Jordan retired in January. She says making deliveries gives her something concrete to do when the news can be too much. Plus, the route works just right for her.

“I live in West Seattle,” she explained. “And when they started doing the White Center Food Bank I knew I could ride here, do the thing and still have enough oomph to get home.”

Once they’ve dropped off the deliveries, they’ll return to the food bank for another round.

The Seattle Pedaling Relief Project plans to continue its effort through the winter and is already making preparations so cyclists can get their outdoor time and families can get the food they need.

Correction:

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the amount of food distributed in August alone surpassed last year's total.