Conversations With Community: Cindy

This story was written by a neighbor of North Helpline.

“North Helpline has been a complete game changer for my family.”

Stellaluna, The Family Cat

Both I and my partner are disabled and rely entirely upon my income, which is not much as I am unable to work much due to my disability. The food bank has been a necessity. Even still, being disabled trying to get there and carry things back is incredibly difficult, and often leads to us just not having food around. This is why we signed up for North Helpline’s Grocery Delivery program.

I found out about North Helpline through my Facebook neighborhood “Buy Nothing” group, as someone else was asking about resources and someone shared about North Helpline. I immediately signed up. I expected something like this to have a long wait time, especially with so many people in need in Seattle, but it was only a week before I heard back and was told I was accepted.

Now we have a consistent, reliable source of food every other week. It’s been such an incredible relief.

I’ve emailed North Helpline a couple of times to change up what comes in my grocery delivery box, and they have always been incredibly kind and helpful.

Often you end up feeling pitied or looked down upon, and that’s never been the case with North Helpline. They’re kind and respectful and very positive.

I grew up in a poor household and was homeless during my childhood. I wish I had known about services like North Helpline sooner.

In the last year, my health has been declining, and my doctors struggle to treat me. Because of that I am unable to work consistently and have been looking into ways to make ends meet. Having food delivered to me for free, consistently, is such a huge relief.

It’s hard to convey the feeling of knowing you will be able to eat.

We also have a cat, named Stellaluna, and the people at North Helpline were able to include cat food in my grocery delivery box when they have it available. It was incredibly easy - they responded quickly, were able to make the change very fast, and were super helpful.

My family is incredibly thankful to North Helpline for helping us have reliable access to food.