Each spring after the close of our fiscal year, we host an event fondly referred to as “Cut the Pie”. This is an exciting opportunity for us to celebrate our fundraising efforts and the incredible work of the Pike Place Market‘s human service agencies. The “pie” comprising the total funds raised for disbursement by the Market Foundation in the past year is divided (or “cut”) among the Market’s human service and heritage programs.

This year’s celebration was held on April 17 at the newly renovated Cutter’s Crabhouse, where we were thrilled to offer the following slices of pie to our sister agencies:

$254,000 to the Pike Market Medical Clinic to cover the unfunded costs for 11,150 clinic visits for uninsured patients. This makes up 45% of all the clinic’s anticipated visits for the coming year!

$162,000 to the Pike Market Child Care & Preschool to provide tuition assistance for a full year for 19 low-income families with children ages 18 months to 5 years.

$55,000 to the Pike Market Food Bank to cover nearly 10,000 of the more than 30,000 bags of groceries the food bank will distribute in the coming year. And $183,000 to the Pike Market Senior Center to fund roughly one-third of all its programs, including daily breakfast and lunch, wellness activities and social services.

In addition to the human service agencies, the Market Foundation was happy to provide the following grants to two additional critical programs:

• $12,000 to Heritage House, the Market’s assisted living residence for seniors
• $22,000 to the Market Fresh program. This will provide 11,000 coupons for the Market’s low-income residents and human service clients so they can purchase fresh produce from Market vendors.

To date, the Market Foundation has provided more than $17 million in grants to the Market’s human service and heritage programs, thanks in large part to our generous community. Think of “Cut the Pie” as the Super Bowl, and you — our donors and supporters — as the MVP for making it possible for us to continue providing much needed funds to these valuable community resources despite tough economic times. THANK YOU!

To see more photos from the event, visit our Facebook page.