We could also just call this post: Share What You’ve Got—You’ll Feel Better & So Will Someone Else.
Hi! If you’re looking for a hot meal or some pantry items, don’t forget you can find a food bank near you through Emergency Food Network’s Find Food Tool.
Since you’re here, we’re guessing you care about other people. Maybe you’re new to the area and need some help finding ways to show that care, or maybe you’re just new to caring. Either way, we’re here to share another list of 5 ways to support food and shelter for neighbors. We’re inspired by the many ways we see individuals and organizations giving in meaningful and practical ways around Tacoma and Pierce County.
We get by with a little help from our friends. We all make it through life because others are also making it through alongside us. There isn’t always a balance between give and take, enough and not enough, especially if we take a short view. But over time, we all have something to give and a real need to receive. So take the long view, and spread the word about these organizations!
“Neighbor is not a geographic term. It is a moral concept.”
If you’re not able to give support this month, tuck some of these ideas away for a time when you can. The list of groups working toward housing stability and food security extends far beyond these five; we’ll be back with more ways to support community in the future like we have in the past.
Image from The RISE Center.
1. Support Food & Housing For All with the Brotherhood R.i.s.e Center
The Brotherhood R.I.S.E Center on MLK Jr Way in Hilltop has a vision of “An American where no individual goes unhoused.”
Along with housing programs, the center serves free breakfast and lunch every weekday and hosts a food bank as well. While people are stopping in for food, they can visit the clothing bank to get something to wear.
The R.I.S.E. center acknowledges the many aspects of life that contribute to health and housing stability with their focus on literacy, addiction and mental health, job stability, and advocacy for people who have interacted with the justice system.
How You Can Help:
Learn more about the work of The R.I.S.E Center.
Check out ways to get involved as a volunteer.
Want to give some dollars to support food, health, and housing for neighbors? Donate here.
Images sourced from Retreat Home
2. Support Neighbors Housing Neighbors with Retreat Home
Retreat Home is a non-profit network that "provides safe, stable temporary housing for families experiencing housing insecurity through a volunteer home-sharing model."
Hosts offer free home stays to folks exiting homelessness as they transition to stable housing. Stays range from 3 weeks to 3 months and guest families or individuals are supported by an outside social worker or case manager. The aim is to provide safety, security, and a sense of welcome to some of the more than 20,000 people who are unhoused in WA State.
In the past 5 years Retreat Home has served 16 families, including 38 children with their innovative trauma informed approach that emphasizes respect, safety, and relational stabilization. Retreat Home reports that 4,300 people are unhoused here in Pierce County on any given day and only about 1,300 emergency beds are available. Clearly there is a need!
How You Can Help
Learn more about neighbors housing neighbors
Be a link between the host family, guest family, and social worker, check in once or twice/month, and help with moving
Help figure out what furniture a family needs and make a delivery
Be a host home
Give a donation to support the work
Images sourced from Emergency Food Network
3. Support Food on every Table with Emergency Food Network
Emergency Food Network’s Mission: “Our mission is to provide Pierce County with a consistent, diverse and nutritious food supply so that no person goes hungry.”
According to the Emergency Food Network, 1 in 4 people in WA visited a food pantry in 2025. 1 in 3 people in WA can’t afford to cover their basic needs. People all over Pierce County face hunger. Good thing EFN can turn $1 into 5 meals. We can’t do that on our own, and they can’t either.
EFN receives, stores, sorts, and delivers food from a variety of sources to food pantries all over the county. And they have a home delivery program too.
How You Can Help:
Give funds for EFN to turn into dinner on the table!
Donate food or host a food or fund drive
Share the EFN “Find Food” tool to locate a meal site or food bank
Image from The REACH Center
4. Support Youth & Young Adult Housing & Wholeness with THe REach Center
The REACH Center is tucked into Tacoma Community House (another truly wonderful Tacoma nonprofit) in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood.
At The REACH Center, it’s all about youth and young adults. The center offers a variety of programs focusing on youth advocacy, education, employment, violence prevention and housing. If you know an unhoused young person, send them this way!
Mission: “At The REACH Center, our mission is to equip and embolden young people to achieve success in education and employment through a strong network of dedicated partners. The REACH Center promotes effective use of resources, and enhances collaboration with youth and community partners, and offers a unified voice in advocating for systemic change in how young adults participate in their economic future.”
Values (we have to share these because they’re so great):
Always choosing love over fear
Healing focused
Empowerment based
Willing to change
Fun & relational
How You Can Help:
Volunteer (any future Study Zone Tutors out there?)
Learn more and spread the word
Image from Peace Lutheran Church Tacoma Facebook
5. Support Hospitality in Hilltop with Peace Community Meals
Peace Lutheran Church & Peace Community Center at 2106 S Cushman Ave
The Community Resources Ministry of Peace Lutheran Church seeks to love their neighbors by offering free hot meals and tables to gather around in a warm room. The focus is on hospitality and community with people served at their seat like a guest in your own home and birthdays celebrated at the end of each month like we do with our best friends.
Peace Café:
Fridays, 3-5 pm
Come early to warm up or cool down, enjoy snacks, games, movies, and social time before dinner
Community Meals:
Fridays, 5:30 to 6:30 pm
Hot meal served at your table
How You Can Help:
Support by showing up for good company and a free meal
Sign up to provide or serve a meal! You could partner with a friend, co-workers, or community group. Contact Peace to learn more and sign-up to serve: 253-383-1317, plcadmin@peacetacoma.org
Donate funds to the Community Resources Ministry
Everyone can be part of supporting community! One year our friend’s elementary school class decorated dinner kit boxes with loving and encouraging messages. Small hands, big hearts!
Bonus Way to Support:
November is the annual Windermere Abode Community Dinner Kits month! It’s one of our favorite things that happens with our office all year long.
The goals is to support 200 households with a delicious holiday meal. The Abode crew and friends raise money ($50 just about covers a full holiday meal including a turkey, but ANY amount helps!), shop, assemble the kits, and deliver them to local schools where staff have highlighted families who could be lifted up by a bit of support from their Tacoma neighbors. You can ask us about it or learn more here.
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