#2HoursinSLU - Immanuel Community Services

The offices for Immanuel Community Services (ICS) are located upstairs in the Immanuel Lutheran Church, which has been standing on the same ground in SLU for over 100 years. 

Today, Patty Turnberg, Executive Director of ICS, is helping set up the twice-monthly food bank that is held downstairs in the church the last two Mondays of every month. 

"It’s hard to see hunger," she says of the need for such a service. "You can assume that a homeless person is hungry; you can’t assume that a senior that’s living in a building is skipping meals to pay for their medical bills. That’s happening all the time, but it’s not advertised."

The ICS food bank regularly benefits from the fresh food grown just across the street at the Cascade P-Patch, offering fresh and healthy foods for those in the community that depend on the food bank to help feed themselves or their families. It also happens to be one of Patty’s favorite places in South Lake Union.

"I love being across from the park – it’s beautiful. I love walking through the park, going to the p-patch."

For the first time this year, the Immanuel Lutheran Church has a garden plot of their own. Patty is excited to work with ICS volunteers and members of the residential rehabilitation program to grow their own fresh fruits and vegetables.

ICS is fortunate to partner with other service organizations located nearby - food donations for the ICS food bank are stored adjacent to the church at the Cascade Women’s Shelter, which provides another vital service to the SLU community by offering a place for homeless women to live and access vital resources, and the Y at Cascade People’s Center opens its doors to people waiting in line for the food bank, serving them coffee and giving them a place to get out of the elements on rainy days.

But it’s not just access to these organizations that makes Patty love her location in the South Lake Union community. The Row House nearby has plenty of cozy rooms where she can get a great meal and host committee meetings without disturbing other guests. She also loves Paddy Coyne’s reubens, or Caffè Torino for lunch because of their great soups and salads.

If you want to volunteer or make a donation to Immanuel Community Services, visit www.icsseattle.org or call 206-622-1930.