Randi Hansen was working for the city of Seattle when she saw a need to provide emergency services in the north end. She would find a place for someone to stay temporarily, help them with paperwork and then put together a small food bank when the need was for food. This was in 1978.

What became the North End Emergency Fund is now the Ballard Food Bank, serving the four zip code areas that make up Magnolia, north Queen Anne and Ballard.

In addition to walk-in customers, the Ballard Food Bank delivers groceries to 90 households a week for those unable to pick up food because of illness or disability.

Original founder Randi Hansen, born in Norway but a 58-year resident of Ballard, is one of those people.

“I don’t know what I’d do without them,” Hansen, who is unable to drive due to epilepsy and a stroke, said of the nonprofit.

Currently located in a primarily residential neighborhood on 24th Avenue Northwest, the Ballard Food Bank recently announced they will be relocating in mid-July to a former machine shop at 5130 Leary Ave. N.W., just south of Carter Volkswagen & Subaru.

By coincidence, before World War II the site was home to Ballard Emergency Station, with a doctor ministering to nearby industrial accidents.

New to the food bank in this facility will be a kitchen, garden plot, inside waiting room, parking, and an extra administrative office for another social services group.

However the announcement of the Ballard Food Bank’s expanded facility on Leary and details on Compass Housing Alliance's upcoming development on Northwest 56th Street has touched a nerve in the community, as evidenced in comments to local online forums.

Strongly worded comments suggest that Ballard’s homeless and disenfranchised population is growing and will continue to grow because of agencies such as the Ballard Food Bank and Compass Housing Alliance.

Nancy McKinney, executive director of the Ballard Food Bank, has read the forums and notes a distinction between behavioral concerns and support for the nonprofit.

“I feel tremendous support from the community,” she said. “I have a vested interest. I am part of this community. It’s where I live and where I’ve raised my family.”

She recalls receiving three to six calls per week with neighborhood concerns about the food bank’s present location when she first became executive director in October 2007.

“Now, I might get a call once every six months,” she said. “We want to be good neighbors.”

While walking with the Ballard Rotary in the Syttende Mai parade, she said she heard shouts of “Yeah, Ballard Food Bank” from the sidelines.

Hansen is upset by negative remarks she has read and heard about the Ballard Food Bank and the Compass Housing Alliance's Urness House.

“It upsets me to the bones,” she said. “Why use the energy to criticize people who want to help others? What if they do feed street people? They also feed children, the elderly, veterans, people who are trying to survive.”

The Ballard Food Bank’s future site is located along a commercial and industrial area, but close to a residential area.

LouAnna Arnold is the manager of the 77-unit Russell Apartments, kitty-corner to the new food bank location. She had not heard concerns from any tenants but expressed pleasure with the fact that it will be easier for her to make donations and volunteer her time.

Kathleen Andersen, owner of Señor Moose Restaurant three blocks north on Leary Avenue, agreed that it will make it easier to make food donations from her business, otherwise she doesn’t see that it will have any impact on Señor Moose.

Andersen said she hopes the new food bank location will be a good thing for Ballard’s sake. She said she understands the concerns of those who worry that providing services will increase the number of people in need in Ballard.

What Ballard Food Bank’s board members, founder, executive director and volunteers want to communicate is that the majority of their clients are not homeless or mentally ill; they are neighbors who are having trouble making ends meet.

Every regular customer must present proof of residency in one of the four zip codes and may need to provide school records to document members of their household. As part of their contract with agencies and as a member of Seattle Food Community, the Ballard Food Bank is obligated to provide food to anyone who is hungry, but it will refer a person without a local residence to another agency for follow-up.

Although called the Ballard Food Bank, it also provides emergency financial assistance, clothing and hygiene items, as well as onsite and offsite groceries.

McKinney said she is extremely excited about the new facility, which will have a loading area, hot kitchen and indoor waiting room.

The food bank is currently serving approximately 2,700 households per month, 3,900 people of all ages, up 25 percent over last year. Resources include Food Lifeline, Northwest Harvest, food drives, bulk buying, grocery recovery and P-Patch harvests.

McKinney and operations manager Peggy Bailey are proud of their more than 100 volunteers, who sort and distribute food and make deliveries, and of the grocery recovery that keeps food out of the waste stream.

McKinney said she even finds comments on local forums more positive than negative. She said she feels lucky to be part of a community that is so supportive.

Meanwhile Randi Hansen, who also helped found the Nordic Heritage Museum and Washington State Epilepsy Foundation, has found that her lifelong passion for helping others has not diminished, even though she was assaulted by in downtown Seattle more than 20 years ago by someone with mental illness.

She said she would like to see more resources for those in need, rather than less.

“We need more housing for families and seniors," Hansen said. "I wish people against these programs would actually talk to those in need; it could be their child, their grandma.”