Building to Meet a Greater Need
Helpline House: Serving One in 10 Islanders Each Year
BY CONNIE BYE
PHOTOS COURTESY HELPLINE HOUSE and by Dinah Satterwhite
With an eye to growing needs, Helpline House is constructing a building that should serve its island clients for at least 50 years.
Demolition of the old building, at 282 Knechtel Way NE, began in the spring, and if all goes according to plan, the new facility will open at that same location in May 2026, said Maria Metzler, executive director of the nonprofit agency.
“It feels like a gift to our community,” Metzler said.
The old, familiar structure lasted nearly five decades, but as needs for assistance grew on Bainbridge Island, the available space became increasingly cramped, Metzler said. The old building was about 7,000 square feet, compared with 12,750 square feet in the new one, which will include a larger market area, community meeting spaces, more storage and private counseling space for children and adults.
Total visits to its food bank grew from 15,045 in 2022 to 18,580 in 2024. And with recent reductions in federally funded programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Metzler anticipates even more people with food insecurity will seek help and other assistance. Helpline estimates that 1 in 10 islanders use its various services each year.
Federal cutbacks have “upped the anxiety level about what is coming. People ask, ‘What does this mean for me?’” Metzler said. “We’ve seen more people talking with our social services staff.”
The Helpline board “did not expect to see that the uptick in demand for our services during the pandemic period would continue—and continue to grow so significantly,” board president Joan Hemphill said. “Seeing higher and higher numbers of clients coming through our doors every month is not what we were seeing 10 years ago, but it does seem to reflect where we are as a community today, due in part to an ever-increasing cost of living and other economic pressures.”
Metzler noted that “people may be working but need a little extra help sometimes.”
So far, financial support for the project has come from house parties, individuals and the Bainbridge Island Rotary Club, Town & Country Markets and Ace Hardware, Metzler said. Helpline also applied for and received a $2.5 million grant from the state of Washington to support construction. It survived budget cutting in Olympia, Metzler said, and is the largest investment to date in the project.
The $12 million capital campaign includes the new building, the temporary move, additional large refrigeration and freezer equipment and other costs associated with the project, Metzler said. As the organization has closed in on the goal, the focus has shifted to fund-raising in the community. The organization set up a booth at the Grand Old Fourth of July celebration and plans to be on hand at the weekly Farmers Market to “let people know what we’re doing for their neighbors,” Metzler said.
Until the new facility opens, Helpline operates from temporary quarters at 901 Hildebrand Lane NE, a few blocks from the old facility. “We like to say we’re just around the corner,” Metzler said. Clark Construction owns the building and is leasing it to Helpline.
“It’s not perfect, but we couldn’t have asked for a more ready-to-use place to slot ourselves into,” Metzler said. For example, the building originally was a bank, and Helpline is using the old vault to store some goods.
Support for the new building is a way for Bainbridge residents to leave a lasting legacy, said Dean Lierle, development manager for the project. “There is a message in this about community and values that’s really important right now. It’s more than just building a building.”
For those who are feeling somewhat cynical about the human condition, Lierle advised focusing on good things, such as the difference Helpline makes on Bainbridge Island.
The community steps up for Helpline House, Lierle said. “We’re not popular with institutional funders. The assumption is that, oh, it’s Bainbridge Island, so they don’t need help. But the community understands who we are and wants to be sure their neighbors are taken care of.”
The old building was constructed in the early 1980s, “and over the years, the list of repairs for an aging building has continued to grow,” Hemphill noted. “And every year, every month, we are seeing higher numbers of people coming into the food bank and requesting assistance services.”
Helpline’s board weighed the costs of remodeling the old building versus creating a new facility, and found that new construction was the more cost-effective option, Hemphill said.
Jonathan Davis at Davis Studio Architecture + Design designed the new building. The work is being handled by Washington Patriot Construction, a veteran-owned company that also built a food bank in Gig Harbor, Metzler said.
“They are thorough, thoughtful,” she said. “They’ve made the process easy, even with a few bumps we’ve had.”
Rooftop solar panels should reduce ongoing energy expenses, Metzler noted. “Our goal was to be net neutral as much as possible.” Helpline hopes to achieve a LEED Silver designation, which is awarded by the U.S. Green Council. Additionally, the facility will include an elevator to make it ADA compliant, she said.
Lierle, a social worker, said he was inspired after seeing the designs and offered to shepherd the fundraising efforts. “There’s incredible support for funding, but also time,” he said. Last year, volunteers donated 17,000 hours to Helpline, he noted.
>> To learn more about supporting Helpline House’s capital campaign, go to helplinehouse.org/ completethecampaign
