White Center Now: The blog about White Center

(Also posted to partner site West Seattle Blog)

Announced late tonight – the longtime executive director of the White Center Food Bank is retiring. Here’s how Rick Jump announced it:

To the clients, donors, volunteers, and staff of the White Center Food Bank and to the greater
White Center Community:

I have lived in White Center for 35 years; raised my children here, forged lifelong friendships, built partnerships, and helped to grow the White Center Food Bank for the past twelve years. It has been both my professional and personal passion to help support the most vulnerable in our community.

It is a unique place – one built on community, diversity, and resiliency despite the many challenges we have faced.

I am proud to call White Center my home.

This is why my decision to retire as the Executive Director of the White Center Food Bank is made with a heavy heart. I arrived at this decision after both I and my wife, Judy, have struggled with health issues in recent months. As much as I love this community, after 12 years of dedicating my life to helping others, it is time that Judy and I take care of ourselves.

I leave the White Center Food Bank knowing that it is in good, capable, and caring hands and am excited to see how it continues to grow to meet the needs of White Center now and into the future.

Thank YOU all for being such a wonderful community and for your support of the White Center Food Bank over the past 12 years. They have been some of my most formative and inspiring years of my life.

We are awaiting replies on a few followup questions, including when Jump plans to leave and what the process will be for choosing his successor. His list of achievements is long, including winning the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce “Westsider of the Year” award in 2011 (that’s when we took the photo you see above).

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