Give. Share. Eat.

The next meal packing event is May 10-11, 2024

It's pretty simple, really. There are a lot of food-insecure and hungry people in the world. And many more live in King County than we might expect. Together we can relieve some of this hunger when we give of our finances and share our time and energies so that people may eat nutritious, easy-to-prep food. Gethsemane and the Hope Center are collaborating to host epic meal packaging events that bring together area businesses, organizations, and individuals to make a difference in our communities.

See below for ways you individually and/or your organization can help.

Give Money

40 cents feeds a kid, $50 feeds a family of 4 a month of healthy breakfasts. $2,000 adopts an entire assembly line’s production—nearly 5000 meals! Money raised turns into people fed!

Your gift is tax-deductible. As a non-sectarian non-profit, the Hope Center is able to accept matching funds or outright gifts from the business community; if you work please check with your employer to find out if they have matching or granting programs for employee's community service hours and donations. Hope Center is already registered with Benevity (Google, Microsoft, Apple, Astra Zeneca), YourCause (Tableau, etc.), and Nordstrom.

SHARE TIME AND ENERGY

All ages are welcome! Please note: Caregivers of young children, please email organizers for more information and to sign up; we will schedule a young children/caregiver's line via email.

There are shifts on Friday and Saturday. Each shift can run 5 assembly lines with 10 people on each line, and another 3 people serving as “runners” who re-stock bulk food supplies for the lines and carry away filled boxes. We ask that you check in 30 minutes BEFORE your two-hour shift start time to receive directions and prep for safe food handling.

EAT

To date we have hosted six events and packaged over 466,000 meals! You can see a full list of recipients in the “re-cap” section below.

This is the plan for 2024: 120,000 nutritious meals packed in two sets of two days, then distributed through area food banks, churches, housing programs, school and college campus outreach programs, etc. The cost of materials is a bargain at about $58,000. We aim to raise $11,000 before the event (and anything more gets us stared on our next event)! Your gift is most appreciated.

(please choose Give.Share.Eat)

You can help raise funds in these ways:

  • Do you have an employer match program? Do your friends? Some employers match contributions of employees and retirees up to a certain dollar amount; some pay the nonprofit for each hour of time you donate. Hope Center, a nonsectarian nonprofit, is already registered with Benevity (Google, Microsoft, Apple, Astra Zeneca), YourCause (Tableau, etc.), Nordstrom.

  • Direct giving through the Hope Center can be shared online anytime through The Seattle Foundation; in the comments section note: “GSE”

  • Checks can be made payable to Hope Center and sent to ATTN: Joanne Engquist, 911 Stewart Street, Seattle, WA 98101.

  • You also may give directly through Gethsemane Lutheran Church's online giving: (please choose Give.Share.Eat.).