As volunteers unloaded 7,000 pounds of carrots, beans, fruits and other food at the Federal Way Senior Center food bank on Oct. 1, Sue Thacker was in the middle of it all, guiding the flow of the items and watching out for safety hazards.

The food bank is located at 4016 S. 352nd St. in Auburn, just outside Federal Way city limits.

Organizing the distribution of thousands of pounds of food to community members is a complex and challenging task — especially when the entire operation is run by volunteers.

The food bank at the Federal Way Senior Center has always been run by hard-working people who care deeply for the community. The food bank itself is part of the same nonprofit as the Federal Way Senior Center and the community garden that is also on the property, but each operate somewhat separately.

Accessing that food two years ago could involve a two hour wait, clogged streets and even safety incidents from cars not properly put into park.

That all changed when Thacker brought her expertise as a former production manager at a food manufacturing company to the food bank.

Thacker’s expertise in efficiency, safety and process management made her see opportunities for improvement.

Today she spends up to seven days a week at the food bank and manages much of the operations of the project and has made it a more efficient, safe and accessible process from every angle.

For her dedication to feeding the community and her generosity through both her time and sharing her expertise, Sue Thacker is the Federal Way Mirror’s Hometown Hero for September 2025.

Volunteers Sue Thacker and Moises Herrera touch base as they begin to process 7,000 lbs of food for distribution to local community members who need it. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang/The Mirror

With her changes, the food bank is now able to serve over 120 families a day on average, when in the past they could only get through about 70 to 80 cars a day, Thacker said.

“She is the star over here,” volunteer Tom Stewart said. “I’ve never seen a person who’s a better organizer.”

Before her arrival, people would sometimes wait up to two and a half hours. Now, it takes volunteers about a minute and a half to fill cars with food.

Volunteer Moises Herrera said that he was apprehensive at first about the change in leadership because he’s experienced the turmoil that leadership changes can bring from his experiences in the military.

As he predicted, he said not everyone was open to the changes in process at first, but over time, he and the volunteers that stayed saw what a big difference they made.

“I started seeing how much she worked …s he would be there five, seven days a week … I really admired that,” he said.

Today, they only need about half the volunteers to do the same amount of work, Herrera said, and he’s seen how big of an impact her changes have made.

Now Herrera is another one of the leaders at the food bank, and Thacker calls him “my right and and my left hand.”

Working at the food bank has not been without its challenges.

On Thacker’s first Thanksgiving, she volunteered to do a grocery pickup the day after the holiday from Trader Joe’s. When she arrived, she realized she had signed up to load and unload 16 full grocery carts, which included 150 total frozen turkeys.

Her car was so full that her tailgate popped open on her way back to the food bank, leaving her scrambling to pick up salads in the middle of South 320th Street.

Since then, she’s gotten to know everyone at the food bank on a personal level and would now have plenty of people to call for help in that type of situation.

Sue Huff is another volunteer at the Federal Way Senior Center food bank. Here she is sorting through boxes of donated food to prepare items for distribution. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / The Mirror

In addition to changes around efficiency and safety, she is also looking for ways to celebrate the volunteers who contribute all their time and effort to this work. She added a hot coffee pot in the back room and held a celebration BBQ recently to thank the volunteers.

Thacker grew up in Federal Way and only left for a few years in high school before returning to help care for her great-grandmother. She found the food bank itself a few years ago while helping another elder, this time a neighbor and veteran.

The two had first met when Thacker’s son was playing outside at their apartment one day. Thacker’s son was adopted when he was only 10 days old, after having a challenging entry into the world due to his birth mother’s substance use while pregnant.

Thacker and her husband adopted him together, but her husband died when her son was only 9 years old. The neighbor helped out with childcare when she needed it, and she has helped him with many things over the years.

Although they were living in Tukwila at the time, her search for food access for him led her to the Federal Way food bank.

She started volunteering, then when one of the leaders quit and another moved to Japan, she stepped in to fill the leadership role.

Today she is still helping her veteran friend, but has had a “heartbreaking” summer trying to help him access the care he needs as he begins to suffer with memory issues. Because he has no family, she has stepped in to fill that role and become his de facto support system.

In addition to helping out her neighbors and working at the food bank most days, Thacker also helps out with community dinners, like one she helped cook at a church down the street last Saturday.

The food bank is open Monday and Thursday mornings from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. for individuals/families in need.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story included an incorrect last name for volunteer Moises Herrera which has since been corrected