Our start and our core

Did you know?

Serving meals to anyone who is hungry, no questions asked, is how we started.

We served our first meal in 1980, to 15 children and 11 adults.

Today Loaves & Fishes provides thousands of Community Meals every month to families and individuals like José, a decade-long Loaves & Fishes guest. For José and his neighbors in east San Jose, it’s comforting to know they can get a warm, healthy meal daily. “It helps us because some of us can’t afford to buy our own food. Loaves & Fishes provides us a meal. It’s a great deal for us,” he said.

Loaves & Fishes now has five meal programs: Community Meals, A La Carte Food Recovery, Meals on Wheels, Medically Tailored Meals, and the Jerry Larson Food Basket. We prepare meals for all our programs with care in our own kitchen and provide them with respect and kindness to our guests.

Meals on Wheels, Medically Tailored Meals, and the Jerry Larson Food Basket have eligibility requirements and serve guests who have specific needs. Our Community Meals are free to all who need them. They remain the heart of our work.

Learn about all our meal programs.