Hunger at Home and Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen Announce Joint Venture to Expand Food Recovery and Feed More Bay Area Families
Organizations estimate the collaboration will reduce food costs by 20% and provide an additional 2,000 meals per month once fully operational
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Hunger at Home and Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen (Loaves & Fishes) today announced a joint venture that brings together two trusted nonprofits with a shared mission to end hunger in the Bay Area.
Through this first-of-its-kind collaboration, Loaves & Fishes will receive recovered high-quality protein and produce at no cost, helping reduce ingredient expenses for community meals that would otherwise require purchased ingredients. Hunger at Home will be reimbursed for the operational costs of recovering and delivering these ingredients, creating an innovative cost-recovery model that supports its food rescue operations while helping both organizations work more efficiently and expand their impact.
The organizations estimate that the joint venture will reduce Loaves & Fishes’ food costs by approximately 20% and help provide an additional 2,000 meals each month to people facing hunger across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Once the collaboration is fully operational, the organizations will report actual results quarterly.
The joint venture reflects how nonprofits with similar missions can come together to maximize resources and areas of expertise. Hunger at Home brings deep experience in recovering surplus food from local businesses, while Loaves & Fishes brings large-scale meal production and community distribution capacity.
“Food recovery is one of the smartest and most effective ways to fight hunger, but it has long been an underfunded part of the food assistance system,” said Ewell Sterner, Founder and CEO of Hunger at Home. “This collaboration with Loaves & Fishes shows what is possible when mission-aligned nonprofits work together in a new way. By combining our strengths, we can rescue more nutritious food, serve more people, and build a stronger, more sustainable food recovery system.”
Food recovery remains an essential but often overlooked part of addressing hunger. By rescuing surplus food and putting it to use, this collaboration reduces the overall cost of feeding those facing hunger in our community and alleviates pressure on the county food systems. It also helps reduce waste and supports broader environmental sustainability goals.
“The need in our community continues to grow, and collaboration is essential,” said David Hott, CEO of Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen. “This joint venture allows us to access more nutritious ingredients, use our resources more effectively, and serve more meals to the families and individuals who depend on us. It is a practical, scalable model that strengthens both organizations and benefits the entire community.”
The collaboration comes at a critical time as the Bay Area’s hunger crisis worsens due to SNAP eligibility changes, persistently high grocery and gas prices, and the region’s high cost of living. Nearly one in four people in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties face food insecurity, even as enormous amounts of perfectly edible food continue to go to waste. This partnership offers a smarter, more sustainable solution by redirecting rescued food to people facing hunger while helping sustain the infrastructure needed to recover and distribute food at scale.
By working together rather than competing for limited resources, Hunger at Home and Loaves & Fishes are demonstrating how nonprofits with similar missions can come together to maximize resources, deepen areas of expertise, and create more sustainable solutions to hunger.
About Hunger at Home
Hunger at Home is a San Jose–based nonprofit that rescues high-quality surplus food from hospitality partners, corporate and institutional kitchens, grocery partners, and large event venues and efficiently redirects it to people in need across Santa Clara County. Hunger at Home’s food recovery model reduces food waste while ensuring access to nutritious food for families, seniors, veterans, and students facing food insecurity. www.hungerathome.org.
About Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen
Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending hunger across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Through five meal programs—Community Meals, Meals on Wheels, Medically Tailored Meals, The Jerry Larson FoodBasket, and A La Carte food recovery—Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen creates and delivers over 1.9 million meals annually, providing nutritious, prepared meals and groceries to individuals and families facing food insecurity. www.loavesfishes.org
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