North Helpline

Together we keep our neighbors fed and housed.

Each month more new faces are seen at our two food banks.
Our Home Grocery Delivery program is nearly full.
The financial assistance we offer to prevent evictions each month quickly runs out.

For the last 35 years, we have worked to be a constant that our community can count on.
Can you help us continue?

The Need Has Never Been Greater Each month, North Helpline provides groceries to over 4,400 households through our Lake City and Bitter Lake food banks, with biweekly home deliveries reaching hundreds of seniors and neighbors with disabilities. Our neighbors are facing historic grocery prices, the loss of expanded SNAP benefits, and rising housing costs—and more people are turning to us for help than ever before. In 2024, North Helpline served 54,397 households through our food access programs—a 17% increase over 2023, and part of a more than 50% surge since 2022. The need continues to grow. In March 2025 we recorded 5,100 visits to our food banks, the highest monthly total in our 35-year history. With food prices still rising and federal support shrinking, continued investment is critical to ensure families in North King County can keep food on the table.

Rebecca's Story

“ I came home and I was flabbergasted. I had chicken. I had beef. I had vegetables. I had fruit. Everyone was beautiful and wonderful to me. I was astonished and extremely, extremely, extremely, grateful. And I feel like crying. So, it's been a joy for me. It's helped me. I'm able to have my child and my grandson over for dinner three times a week. ”

Mission

North Helpline believes that all deserve adequate food, housing, and respect. We assist our neighbors in obtaining basic needs that affirm their human dignity and worth.

We work to make sure our neighbors have food on their tables and a roof over their heads.

Programs

1. Homelessness Prevention - providing direct financial assistance for rent, utilities, and moving costs.
2. Food Access - distribution of food to our neighbors via two service sites and a robust home grocery delivery program.
3. Client Services - hygiene supplies, mail collection, and matching neighbors with referral services via our Community Connectors. 
4. Health Clinic - we have partnered with Seattle Indian Health Board to bring culturally attuned care to the space above our Lake City service site.

Values

At North Helpline we strive to exist for all members of our community. To welcome all who come through our doors with respect, humanity, and open arms. To serve regardless of class, race, age, ability, sexual orientation, nationality, gender identity, or documented status.

We recognize the intersectional systems at play that cause and perpetuate poverty, systemic racism, health & education inequality, gender and sex discrimination, and more. North Helpline cannot yet provide all that our community deserves and which is taken by these unjust systems. We hope to honor the dignity of all that we serve. To connect with neighbors in the language(s) that they speak. To serve them culturally relevant products and services. To act in accordance with our knowledge that Black Lives Matter, and that we stand and work upon Duwamish land.

We support the elimination of the root causes of hunger. To partner with other organizations to collaborate on and refine best practices. To advocate for and with our community. To be a constant in an inconsistent world. We aim to be worthy of the trust our neighbors place in us. 

Thank you for your support.