“We’ve gone from 2,500 to over 7,000 meals a day,” said Gisela Bushey, CEO of Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen. “That's a 300 percent increase just since the beginning of March.”

With the need for food assistance services rising, the City of San José is working with local nonprofit organizations like Loaves & Fishes in order to meet the continuing food demand and support San José residents.

Since 1980, Loaves & Fishes has prepared, packaged, and delivered hot meals from as far south as Morgan Hill to the foggy corridors leading into South San Francisco.

However as Loaves & Fishes revealed their brand new 12,000 square-foot home in an industrial block near the 880 highway one theme soon became crystal clear– San José is home.

Loaves & Fishes has prepared and delivered hot meals for San José residents in need for over 40 years. If you would like to donate and/or explore volunteer opportunities, please visit www.loavesfishes.org. Photo Courtesy of Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen.

“We needed to centralize our services and that led us on this hunt for a building here in San José,” Bushey admitted. “With the majority of our services being here in Santa Clara County population wise, 70 percent of our meals are provided to the City of San Jose.”

According to Loaves & Fishes, the 40-year, San José-based nonprofit will be able to serve upwards of 10,000 meals in the next year and a half once the commercial kitchen is up and running.

This new centralized kitchen comes at a time when City leaders are looking to partner with community-based nonprofits to meet the increasing demand for food.

Loaves & Fishes' centralized kitchens enables the nonprofit to prepare hot fresh meals that are loaded onto temperature-controlled vehicles to ensure food quality and safety. Photo Courtesy of Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen.

Loaves & Fishes was one of several recipients of the City’s Collective Impact Grant (CIG), which provides additional funding for community-based organizations that are actively distributing food and necessities to San José residents in need.

“It's really enabled us to be able to create more delivery locations. We currently have 55 partner organizations, and are delivering to 90 sites throughout Santa Clara County,” said Bushey.“We actually, for the first time in 40 years, have a waiting list asking for our food. And so we are now going to be able to provide those meals because of this grant.”

Loaves & Fishes’ ability to prepare, package, and deliver hot meals to where they are needed is an absolute gamechanger when it comes to providing food efficiently and quickly. 

The San José nonprofit’s fleet of eight temperature-controlled trucks ensures food is maintained at safe temperatures while allowing drivers to abide by health safety protocols for food handling and COVID-19.

Hot meals are transported directly from centralized kitchens into a fleet of vehicles that can quickly be delivered to partner organizations throughout the community. Photo Courtesy of Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen.

Loaves & Fishes is looking to add a ninth delivery vehicle to its food-providing arsenal and aims to reach 105 delivery locations by the end of December 2020.

Thanks to the generosity of financial donors and grants like the Collective Impact Grant, community-based nonprofits like Loaves & Fishes are reaching vulnerable residents when they need it most.

“What makes us different is we take food that is uncooked, we prepare it and then we deliver it to partner organizations serving the same population,” said Bushey. “This [grant] is going to enable us to provide 121,000 pounds of shelf stable groceries and prepare 154,000 hot meals between now and the end of the year.”

Loaves & Fishes is in need of donations, partners and volunteers. Learn more by visiting www.loavesfishes.org today.

To find out how you can access food resources in your neighborhood, please visit bit.ly/SCCFoodMap. #SiliconValleyStrong #SJCares #KeepSJHealthy