This Giving Tuesday, your gift of time can mean so much!
Mimi, pictured far left, with other volunteers getting ready for Celebrate the Market! 2025
Making an impact in the Market community doesn’t just mean making a donation of money or goods – it is also the time invested to ensure every community member has the resources they need to live a healthy life.
Volunteers in the Market have their own unique story around how they got involved and what keeps them connected. Mimi’s story is no different.
Meet Mimi.
For nearly a decade, she has been a graciously humble yet powerfully impactful force contributing to the Market community. After retiring in 2015, Mimi started looking for ways to get involved in the local community. She always loved the Market, so she set her sights on what she could do to help. She stumbled upon a volunteering opportunity with the Market Foundation and our annual Sunset Supper fundraising event.
Although volunteering for the event was hard work, she found the experience fulfilling and wanted to continue to do more. She had fun and enjoyed connecting with the other volunteers. Curious on how she can continue to support, she was encouraged by the team to reach out to the Pike Market Food Bank.
You can find Mimi at the Food Bank every Monday and Friday, with a cart in tow, picking up donations throughout the Market and carting sandwiches that volunteers at the Senior Center have made for the Food Bank. From bagging groceries for DoorDash pick-ups, slicing and bagging donated bread and pastries from Le Panier, 3 Girls Bakery, and Storyville Coffee, anything she sees that needs to be done, she’s doing it!
Mimi knows that at the heart of it all are the people. “It’s been great getting to know the Market better and meeting a lot of the vendors. It’s very rewarding to be a part of the Market community and work with such great staff at the Food Bank and the Market Foundation.”
While wanting to help out the community, she also acknowledges that the experiences she’s had volunteering at the Market have greatly impacted her life, too. “Being surrounded by so much diversity in one place, I think it’s made me a better person. I always go home happy, feeling that I’ve contributed a little good to the community.”
Mimi recognizes that people may feel frustrated or have gripes with what’s going on in the local community, but encourages folks to do something about it. “They should volunteer at the Market because it’s one part of Seattle that’s doing its best to help those in need.”
We’re grateful for our volunteers, like Mimi, who understand it takes a community to thrive. There’s more than one way to help sustain the soul of Seattle this holiday season. Donate to support the Market community, give a gift to a neighbor in need, shop intentionally with our Market Merchant Supporters, or volunteer your time and talent.
Check out these other stories of volunteers in action!
