Since 1980, Food Lifeline has taken a creative approach to linking surplus food with hungry people. We have developed a variety of programs that allow us to provide more than 24 million pounds of food to Western Washington each year!
Restaurants, hotels, caterers, and other local food service providers donate surplus prepared food, which otherwise would be wasted. Food Lifeline picks up the food donations, and delivers them in the same day to various meal programs in King County. For a full description of the Seattle's Table program please click here.
Produce for the People rescues edible, but unmarketable fresh produce from local wholesalers and retailers. Unsold fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables are collected by Food Lifeline from produce wholesalers and distributed directly to food banks the same day. For a full description of the Produce for the People program please click here.
Local grocery stores can donate perishable product, including produce, dairy, meat, bakery and dry items. Food Lifeline will pick up donations at the retailer's location and distribute it to meal programs and food banks across King County. For retailers outside of King County, Food Lifeline's member agencies throughout Western Washington have been trained to do partner pick-ups with their area grocery retailers. Please click here for more information.
Order Up! is a food purchasing program in which Food Lifeline buys bulk quantities of high-quality products from vendors at a significantly discounted price and, offers these products to agencies at cost plus a minimal administrative fee to cover ordering and handling. Please click here for more information.
Full Plate connects food banks and meal providers to large-scale food manufacturers, growers, distributors, and wholesalers by employing creative solutions to process and distribute large and specialized donations. Please click here for more information.
Thousands of volunteers donate in nearly 35,000 hours per year through Food Lifeline's Volunteer Program. Volunteers generously give their time to help sort and repackage food as well as help with fund raising events, mailings and administrative work. For more information on how you can volunteer, please click here.
Food Lifeline's Product Recovery Center (PRC) receives donations of damaged or distressed food as well as donations through community food drives. With the help of volunteers, the PRC sorts the food and retains what is safe and usable for human consumption. For more information about the Product Recovery Center, please click here.