Thank you
for helping Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen serve children and adults experiencing hunger in our community.
As we close our fiscal year and look toward the future, I am proud to share that the state of our agency is strong, with growing momentum across our programs and partnerships. Please read on to see what we’ve accomplished together and where we’re headed next.
Here are just a few highlights of what you have helped make possible:
Making nourishing meals more accessible.
We have expanded our Community Meals serving sites to make it easier for hungry families to find our free, warm meals. By adding the Jerry Larson FoodBasket and two new school sites in the Alum Rock School District to our Community Meals serving locations, we are bringing our meals Closer to Home and strengthening food security in high-need areas. And we’re on track to expand from six to 15 Community Meals sites within the next year!
Increasing impact and sustainability.
Our new joint venture with Hunger at Home will enable us to provide more meals to children and adults, significantly reduce costs for purchased ingredients for our community meals, and rescue high-quality food that would otherwise go to waste.
Expanding nutrition as healthcare.
We have raised awareness and increased access to our Meals on Wheels (MOW) and Medically Tailored Meals (MTM) programs. We are now serving nearly 1,000 homebound seniors and individuals living with chronic illness, providing medically appropriate meals and services that help them improve their health, support their recovery, and remain safely in their homes.
Fortifying our leadership team.
Over the past year we’ve added new board members with diverse expertise, including food science, logistics, communication, and affordable housing; updated our by-laws; and developed a new strategic plan. These enhancements make Loaves & Fishes more effective and resilient, ultimately resulting in more plentiful, more accessible and better meals for families in the community.
Underlying all our work is the growing awareness of how what we eat impacts our health. Every day our programs, especially our MTM program, demonstrate that eating the right foods can dramatically improve your health.
Together, we are moving closer to our north star of eliminating food insecurity while improving nutrition security in our community. We see evidence daily.
Before coming to Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen. Fernando suffered multiple organ failures, anxiety, and depression. “I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize myself,” he said. Our Medically Tailored Meals and groceries program helped him learn healthy eating habits, lose weight, and repair his body. Today he embraces the future with hope!
Knowing that the work we are doing together profoundly affects people’s lives sustains us and drives us forward. I hope it nourishes you too! Thank you for believing with us that good food is for everyone and helping us serve neighbors facing food insecurity. We look forward to walking alongside you in the year ahead.