GoodRoots Northwest

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GoodRoots is a nonprofit serving 350+ square miles across Pierce County with online shopping and local locker pickup.

A food desert solution rooted in local farms.

31/10/2026

On this Halloween 🎃, we’re not serving up any tricks. Only treats…

29/10/2026

Come Trick or Treat with GoodRoots NW at Windmill Gardens! We promise to serve up more than just ghostly greens!

23/10/2026

From the Last Mile to the First Mile: A Conversation Four Years in the Making

In 2022, Congresswoman Kim Schrier visited GoodRoots Northwest for the first time. We talked about something that seemed so simple, yet represented one of the greatest challenges in food security: You cannot have healthy communities without access to healthy food.

And access isn’t just about whether food exists. It’s about whether people can actually get to it. We live in one of the most productive agricultural regions in Washington. Yet for families in rural communities, fresh food grown just a few miles away might as well be 100 miles away. What’s missing is the infrastructure connecting the two.

That conversation was about logistics. About rethinking distribution. About building a system. The refrigerated food locker became our infrastructure solution and after a successful pilot with Pierce County Council, the Congresswoman invested another $2,000,000 into east Pierce County communities so that we could expand the network. Four years later, that solution has grown into a network of 11 locations, connecting thousands of households to fresh food with dignity.

And this week, Congresswoman Schrier returned. We found ourselves talking about the very same things: food, health, agriculture, access, and infrastructure. But this time, the conversation had moved upstream.

In the wake of nearly 90% cuts to critical local food purchasing, the economic consequences are being felt throughout our agricultural region. Farmers are losing important markets for their products, while organizations working to feed communities are losing the very purchasing power that helped sustain those farms.

And once again, we believe the answer is infrastructure. For GoodRoots, the next evolution of food security is about producing food efficiently with fewer transportation miles and a lower cost than traditional food distribution models. It’s also about creating market access for regional growers through a retail market.

That’s why we’re working to acquire DeGoede Farms, a 3rd generation ag operation in the Sumner Valley. By bringing Dutch climate-controlled commercial growing directly into our food system, we have the potential to offset upwards of $500,000 annually in food purchasing expenses, while producing fresh, nutritious food year-round. All while creating a campus that supports the entire growing community.

Instead of continually raising money to purchase and transport food, we can invest in the infrastructure to grow it. Instead of watching another generational farm disappear, we can preserve its productive capacity. Instead of treating food insecurity and farm loss as two separate problems, we can build one system that addresses both.

🌱In 2022, we were building the infrastructure to solve the last mile of food access.

🌱In 2026, we’re working to secure the infrastructure at the first mile of food production.

🌱Four years. Two conversations. One vision that continues to grow.

19/10/2026

Last Thursday at the future GoodRoots Farm was something special. And we’re doing it all again on November 5th. 🌱

We walked the farm, sipped w**e, answered questions, shared big ideas, and imagined what this place could become for our community.

No formal program. No fancy production. Just good people, meaningful conversations, and a chance to see the vision firsthand.

And perhaps the best part was watching people begin to see what we see. Not just a farm, but a future where we produce more of the food our neighbors need and create a place where community and education grows.

We’re just $350,000 away from securing this farm for generations to come. Here are a few moments from Thursday’s gathering. We hope they’ll inspire you to join us for round two!

🌿 November 5 | 4–7 PM
📍 Future GoodRoots Farm | 8217 Riverside Dr E, Sumner

RSVP in the comments. Bring a friend. Come see what’s growing. 💚

13/10/2026

For five years, we’ve worked together to create change in how healthy food is accessed. Thank you for believing in a new vision for an innovative and thriving community food system.

But the world around us continues to change and we must continue to evolve with it. With food donations and government funding decreasing, while our economy is leaving more households seeking resources…it would be easy to feel like this is all insurmountable. But that’s never been our style. In fact, in moments like this we tend to find new ways to reimagine the present circumstances. And we find solutions in infrastructure hiding in plain sight. This time, it’s a commercial farm in the Sumner Valley.

As a community, we have a chance to preserve Windmill Gardens, a beloved third-generation farm. Combined with our HUB and Locker Network, it completes a circular food system. One that provides food and revenue, while ensuring that funding changes are never a threat to keeping the community fed.

GoodRoots Farm will become a place of discovery:

☀️A farm with year-round growing.
🛒A retail local food market.
💡An education hub for all ages.
🪴A demonstration garden.
🍽️ A place to taste the region.
👩‍🌾A place that grows new farmers.

Thanks to an extraordinary group of philanthropic partners who believe in this vision, we are already 85% of the way to securing the down payment. We want to especially thank the Ben B. Cheney Foundation for being the first to see this vision as a solution and a template for rural food systems. This July, you set off an unbelievable chain of events that got us here today.

And we have just $350,000 left to raise. Join us at n October 15th or November 5th for a casual Open House style fundraiser.

🌱This is the moment.
🌱Come walk the farm.
🌱Hear the vision.
🌱Make a gift of any size.
🌱$350,000 to go.
🌱One farm to save.
🌱Generations of good to grow.

28/09/2026

We’re hiring a Locker Driver at GoodRoots Northwest.
Join a team building a different kind of food system!

This is not just a driving job. You’ll be part of the team moving fresh food across Pierce County and helping families, students, seniors, and rural communities access food closer to where they live, work, and go to school.

If you’re reliable, organized, comfortable driving delivery vehicles, and want your work to have community impact, we want to hear from you. (Apply using link in the comments.)

Locker Driver | GoodRoots Northwest
Bonney Lake, WA
$25
Mon-Fri 35+ Hours

09/09/2026

Why Would GoodRoots Want to Own A Farm?

For years, GoodRoots has focused on the last mile of food access.

✅We built an online shopping model.
✅We built a locker network.
✅We created a way for families to choose fresh food closer to home.

But we’re realizing that the next challenge is to ensure that there’s always enough food. That supply always matches demand. And the only way to do that in this complex world of food is to own our own supply.

Here’s where we get a little controversial…and push against the status quo. This food system issue is systemically more fragile and emergent than anyone might want to realize. The private sector is getting remarkably good at moving food. AI, automation, better forecasting, inventory systems and logistics are making businesses more accurate and more efficient than ever.And that’s a good thing. But there’s a consequence for the charitable food system: When businesses become more efficient, there is less surplus to donate.

And at the same time, government resources have decreased by 80% in one year and are becoming less certain. All while government-provided “free” food is actually INCREDIBLY expensive once you account for the systems required to transport, store, document, audit, and distribute it.

💡So we have to ask a difficult question: If donations decrease and government dollars don’t keep pace with the need, what is the alternative?

We believe part of the answer is building our own supply. A more resilient and lasting food system. If we can grow or secure food closer to the communities we serve, we can reduce miles, transportation, handling and waste.

👩‍🌾Grow it.
📦Store it.
🚛Distribute it.
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒Put it closer to the people.

The charitable food system was built around a different world and different economy than the reality we live in today. A huge reimagining will need to take place in order to support our communities at scale. The current model is not affordable and is failing in plain sight. So we travel back in time…to the future.

💡The future is agriculture.

06/09/2026

We Have to Think Differently About Food

We’ve spent years asking a simple question: What if a hunger relief didn’t just distribute food, but helped build the food system our community actually needs?

At GoodRoots Northwest, we believe the future of food access requires more than moving food from one place to another. It’s an interconnected system.

🌱Connection between people and farmers.

🌱Between land and community.

🌱Between local production and local need.

And ultimately, it requires us to think differently about who owns, grows, stores, and distributes our food. The health of our collective communities depend on this more than ever. The vulnerabilities imbedded into our current food system have never been more apparent.

This is the beginning of a bigger conversation. One where GoodRoots breaks away from the status quo and completes the interconnected system we started building in 2020 (Lockers + HUB + Farm). We can’t wait to take you along for the development of GoodRoots Farm and tell you more about how you, our community, can help make this a reality.

**pictured below, the regeneration of the greenhouse soil at DeGoede Farms in Sumner through cover cropping. A legacy is taking root and growing.

Thank you to the Tilth Alliance for this grant to start giving life back to the soil under 60,000 sq ft of climate controlled greenhouses. It’s getting its first taste of biodiversity in 40 years and you can almost hear it thank us.

03/08/2026

🌿 Ben’s Basil Bash is almost here! 🌿

Join us August 7 | 3-7 PM at Windmill Gardens (8217 Riverside Dr E) for an afternoon of local food, plants, farm tours, live music, and community fun.

✨ Free Entry 📖 3:30 PM Gardenland book reading 🎶 Live music by Osborne Guitar Studio 🚚 Boss Mama’s Kitchen food truck 🪴 Summer plant sale at Windmill Gardens

Come meet local farmers, makers, and community organizations while shopping fresh and supporting local! 🌱

🌿

16/07/2026

🌱 This is what community looks like. 💚

Francis, the heart and hands behind FaithBeyond Farms, continues to stand alongside GoodRoots NW, sharing fresh, organic, locally grown produce with the people he so simply and beautifully calls “his neighbors, his community.”

Those words say so much about who Francis is and the heart behind what he does. To him, this isn’t just about growing food. It’s about caring for the people around him, showing up for his neighbors, and making sure fresh, nourishing food reaches local families.

We are incredibly grateful for Francis and the continued partnership between FaithBeyond Farms and GoodRoots NW. Partnerships like this remind us that when a community takes care of one another, something truly special grows. 💚🌱

Address

Pierce County
WA

Opening Hours

Monday	10:00 - 14:00
Tuesday	10:00 - 14:00
Wednesday	10:00 - 14:00
Thursday	10:00 - 14:00
Friday	10:00 - 14:00

Telephone

+12533035909

Website

http://www.goodroots.org/

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