Magnuson Park Mobile Food Pantry

Established in 2019, Mercy Magnuson Food Pantry is a collaboration with Seattle YMCA, Mercy Housing, University District Food Bank and Solid Ground to combat food insecurities within the immediate Magnuson area.

The Magnuson Park neighborhood was designated as a food desert and is an area of concern for hunger, due to the limited public transportation options and lack of surrounding grocery stores. This pantry serves as a way to combat some of those barriers by providing easy access to fresh and healthy foods, for a vulnerable residential group that is working to gain more stability in their lives.  

We serve about 180 households a week, in an old naval building that has been converted into low income housing. 

Tables are set up a on either side of a large open space and customers choose what they would like to be placed in their bags.

Volunteers are assigned a station and ask customers what they would like from their section, place those items in the bag and hand it off to the next volunteer section! 

Because it's a smaller pantry we get the chance to know the families that come each week. There is a tight group of volunteers here and folks often walk over from nearby neighborhoods to help out! 

We follow safety and Covid precautions limiting the amount of people in the space. Our partners and hosts for this pantry, Mercy Housing, have a mandate for vaccines for all program leaders in their buildings so volunteers that sign up to participate at Magnuson pantry should upload their proof of vaccination as well on this site.