Serving San Juan Island since 1983

The food bank begins

The Friday Harbor Food Bank is officially started, serving neighbors across San Juan Island.

Our first remodel

In April 2014 we finished a remodel that added shelf space, new counters and new doors to help shoppers move through. We relocated our freezers and refrigerators, connected the back and front rooms, rewired the building, and brightened the customer area with new paint, windows and flooring. New produce shelves, with year-round funding to fill them with fresh fruit and vegetables, came with it.

The upgrades were underwritten by Dave and Nancy Honeywell’s Rappahannock River Valley Foundation. Guard Electric, Curtis Frenk, Browne Lumber, Stegman Painting, Miller Drywall and the Town of Friday Harbor donated goods and services.

Room to grow

Work started in the spring and finished in October: the building was extended nine feet to the east, adding 216 square feet. Two larger freezers and two fridges replaced older units, and two new food racks solved longstanding storage problems.

Thanks to the Lions Club and Kiwanis Club of Friday Harbor, the Honeywell Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region, and Charles and Kate Foster’s H.O. Peet Foundation. Schmidt Construction oversaw the project with Richard Foster, Guard Electric, Todd Copeland Painting and Nate Howard, who all helped keep costs down.

Serving through the pandemic

Through the spring of Covid, volunteers packed grocery bags so neighbors could still get food safely, and a new sneeze guard went up at the counter. We also launched online ordering, so anyone who couldn’t safely visit could order ahead and pick up.

Summer meals and a matching drive

Our Summer Nutrition Program began, giving island kids fresh, nutritious breakfast and lunch items all summer long. That November, the Town of Friday Harbor directed its Harbor Life Ring donations to the food bank and matched them up to $5,000.

A new storefront

Concrete was poured in September 2022, and by early 2023 we were up and running in our new storefront expansion and exterior restoration. It gave us more storage, made nutritious food easier to reach through every season, and created a more private waiting area. Thank you to everyone for your patience during construction.

Forty years of service

We marked 40 years of serving the San Juan Islands with cake, a look back at our history, and a lot of gratitude.

Running like clockwork

Thanks to generous community organizations, amazing volunteers, ever-gracious donors and a newly remodeled facility, 2024 was a big year in the fight against food insecurity. We set our sights on more local produce, spices and multicultural cooking essentials.

A produce canopy and a parade win

EMS and medic volunteers built a new produce canopy, funded by the Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region. The San Juan Island Lions donated $2,000, and our float took first place in the 4th of July parade.