North Helpline awarded $650,000 from King County to renovate Bitter Lake Food Bank

The blueprint for our updated Bitter Lake floor plan

From North Helpline

We are thrilled to announce that North Helpline has been awarded $650,000 from King County to renovate our Bitter Lake food bank. 

This transformative investment, championed by Councilmembers Rod Dembowski and Jorge L. Barón, will be included in the County’s 2026 budget, allowing us to update our Bitter Lake floor plan and expand storage capacity. 

Visits to Bitter Lake have doubled over the last two years, and with this added space we anticipate serving twice as many neighbors each week while offering a wider variety of food options.

These renovations will make service expansion at Bitter Lake possible. 

Increasing on-site storage will reduce the amount of food we have to move between sites and reduce time spent restocking supplies during each Bitter Lake distribution. 

By reinvesting this capacity back into our operations, we anticipate being able to add a second weekly distribution with minimal added cost. 

This is particularly urgent during a time when we are serving more neighbors than ever due to increased living costs and recent SNAP cuts. Altogether, our goal is to host over 10,000 additional food bank visits each year, doubling our capacity at Bitter Lake and significantly expanding North Helpline’s reach.

North Helpline has operated our Bitter Lake food bank since 2017, when we took over the site from Volunteers of America Western Washington. As part of our 3-year strategic plan launched in 2023, we decided to focus on increasing capacity and dignity of choice at our food banks, with Bitter Lake as pilot site for future upgrades at Lake City. 

In 2024, we worked with architects at Perkins Will and DPR Construction to draw up renovation plans and obtain cost-estimates. Renovations to Bitter Lake will likely be completed within a month of breaking ground, and we anticipate that county funding will cover 100% of the cost.

This is a major milestone for our organization and the North Seattle community; we are deeply grateful to King County for making this growth possible at such a critical moment.

You can donate to the Bitter Lake Food Bank here.