Summer 2025 Edition for Volunteers | | | |  | |
In This Newsletter:
- Teen Feed in the Community
| | | Hi there! My name is Rayne (she/her) I am excited to be back at Teen Feed as an intern this summer after somewhat of a hiatus. While I was away I took on AmeriCorps VISTA role at a dispute resolution center and moved to Bellingham to be closer to family. I am also currently pursuing a degree in Human Services at WWU. My previous experience as a Dinner Coordinator and Kitchen Lead at Teen Feed taught me so many things. When I’m not at school or work, I’m either exploring the outdoors or being lazy with my cats Charlie and Jeff. | | |
Hi! My name is Tanya (she/her) and I am an On-Call Dinner Engagement Coordinator.
I first got involved with Teen Feed by volunteering in the kitchen as kitchen support, but I wanted to continue to contribute plus engage with others and guests in a different way so I applied for the On-Call DEC position.
I love plants and astrology because it reflects the inner part of me that I'm getting to know plus explore. It keeps me grounded too!
| |
Hello! My name is Dani (she/her), and I’m excited to be joining Teen Feed as an On-Call Dinner Engagement Coordinator.
I was drawn to Teen Feed because of its mission to build strong relationships, which deeply resonates with my passions in nonprofit work and social justice activism. Since joining, I’ve felt so embraced by the incredibly loving and dedicated Teen Feed staff. One fun fact about me is that I have lived and crewed on a sailboat for three months.
| | Every other month, Chef Hrefna leads a crew of fellow culinary folks and hospitality members from Molly Moon's. The group loves being able to use their professional skills to give back. | | One of the corporate values at Molly Moon's is "Be Generous." Being a meal team is an excellent way to embody that value! | | | The Moon Crew first became involved with Teen Feed in 2023, when they began donating seasonal pints to serve for dessert. | | | NE Neighbors started as a meal team in the early days of the pandemic. A self-proclaimed "group of introverts," the team cooks up delicious dishes in their home kitchens and drop them off to be served by Kitchen Support volunteers. | | The team is proud to be a part of Teen Feed, knowing the young folks can rely on at least one solid, hot meal per day. They are often able to meet needs in addition to their meal, including warm items and bottled water. | | For their July meal, NE Neighbors served stuffed French toast. Team lead Cheryl says: "I was introduced to the dish at a B&B in Bar Harbor, Maine. A woman ran the inn by herself and needed easy dishes in the morning." | | Wedgwood Presbyterian Youth Group has been serving with Teen Feed since 1989! Church volunteers developed a full protein rice & beans recipe to bring along with fruits and beverages, and have been serving monthly ever since. | | The Youth Group is supported by a longstanding team of adult volunteers as well. There's even a group of 30-year-olds who were in the Youth Group fifteen years ago and returned after college who continue to serve! | | Congregation members stay involved for a long time - over the 36 years, WPC has only had 10 head cooks. The recipe has remained largely unchanged - with a few tweaks here and there. The team says it feels great to serve a vulnerable population a healthy meal while working alongside a great group of people. | | Back in March, Teen Feed had the pleasure of working with University of Montana students while they were in Seattle for their Alterative Break. Alternative Break aims to create engaged citizens by immersing students in hands on explorations of complex social and environmental issues through meaningful service activities and dialog. For this trip, UM students were exploring houselessness and food insecurity. | | The goal was to make freezer-friendly meals for Teen Feed to have on hand for backups or emergency moments. | | In just under four hours these 12 students (and Morgan!) were able to make 5 pans of beef shepherd's pie, 2 pans of vegan shepherds pie, and one half pan of beet hummus. ~ 150 servings! | | This incredible team of hard workers from Umpqua bank came into the Teen Feed kitchen in April, and made 150 breakfast burritos! These breakfast burritos went to support SYM's breakfast program, to holistically support our youths' needs. This event was only possible due to a generous donation from Umpqua to provide the ingredients used to make these burritos. | | Volunteer Matt was so excited about making sweet treats for our youth. He took the lead on baking 100 vegan chocolate chip zucchini dessert muffins! | | Hard at work prepping 20lbs of ground beef, 20lbs of eggs, 10lbs of cheese, 18 bell peppers and 13 onions, to make the 150 breakfast burritos in under 4 hours | | Teen Feed and Liberty Mutual go WAY back. The amazing Liberty Mutual meal team has been cooking for Teen Feed once a month, every month, for 23 years! Every year, we also participate in "Serve with Liberty" -- Liberty Mutual's annual employee service program. This year, over 45% of Liberty Mutual's employees united across 23 countries and economies to volunteer over 70,000 hours! | | The Liberty Mutual Team Leads, Kacie and Melissa, also help us facilitate and lead the Serve with Liberty event every year. | | This year's Serve with Liberty team spent hours hard at work cleaning, organizing and beautifying the kitchen at University Congregational Church. | | |
Thanks to a very generous volunteer, Teen Feed is giving away TWO sets of 2 tickets to PAX West 2025, a $520 value! PAX West is the ultimate celebration of gaming, happening Aug 29–Sept 1 at the Seattle Convention Center.
All donations of $200+ made through our Give Lively page between Fri 7/11 at 8AM and Fri 8/1 at 11:59PM will be automatically entered to win!
| | | Our Donation Needs Right Now: | | |
WE NEED: water bottles, electrolyte packets, summer clothes, sleeping bags. and tents!
Visit our: Amazon Wish List for a list of current basic needs items.
We are also asking for donations of Visa gift cards - $5, $10, $25, and $50 amounts. These gift cards will be used to support our In-Reach program, where we offer skill-building opportunities for our youth, like resume-writing, interview practice, and more.
| | | | | Speaking of community, we would like to give a special "THANK YOU!" to the Cascade meal team led by Kristine Kisky. Every menu this team creates is thoughtfully themed. Cascade represents Teen Feed's culture of standing for safe spaces that support acceptance, compassion and humanity. Cascade's June "Rainbow Connection" menu has been a hit two years in a row, encouraging all to be proud of their individuality. | | | |
Because of your support in 2024 Teen Feed: distributed 23,242 meals, made 9,397 outreach contacts on the street, provided 1,197 youth referrals, and connected with over 423 NEW youth guests. Just in 2024 volunteer labor hours alone, you have all donated over 900 hours, a total value of over $590,883.
This is no small feat. Teen Feed is only still here, doing our work, because of YOU! Thank you for every minute and every penny you've given to Teen Feed's youth.
| | Thanks to the Norcliffe Foundation and Liberty Mutual for their support. | | | | |
