Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services News

#SILICONVALLEYSTRONGHEROES Provides Food Security For Vulnerable Residents

Loaves & Fishes Combat Hunger Relief in San José

Post Date:08/12/2021 1:00 PM

*This is a special feature from the City of San José, Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services 
"I look forward to the work I do every single day because I’m surrounded by a dedicated staff, committed donors, and our guests who value and appreciate what we do,” says Gisela Bushey, Chief Executive Officer for Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen.

Loaves & Fishes is a local organization dedicated to hunger relief in San José and the Bay Area community for over 40 years. Their mission is to provide hot and nutritious meals to feed hungry families, children, seniors, veterans, students, and disabled individuals.

This week’s #SiliconValleyStrongHeroes is the team at Loaves & Fishes and the individuals who help ensure anyone in need of a meal in our community, gets one.

With the turmoil the pandemic caused, Loaves & Fishes tripled the number of meals they provided to residents.

Beginning last year until now, Loaves & Fishes has served over 1.5 million meals to vulnerable residents in our community. They were able to accomplish such high numbers through their Hot Meals Program, Food Recovery Program, A La Carte Program, and with the much-needed volunteer support they received.

Due to COVID, their team had to completely redesign their approach to meet health guidelines and regulations. This meant packaging, instead of distributing fresh meals, and also providing bagged lunches and boxes of groceries.

They switched to “grab & go meals” to make individual servings to avoid contamination and possible exposure and - they went from serving at 69 locations to serving at 105 locations.

Loaves and Fishes Mission
Loaves & Fishes mission is to provide hot and nutritious meals to those in need.

Loaves and Fishes staff poses in front of food delivery truck
The Loaves & Fishes team standing in front of their A La Carte food program truck.

Food preparation at Loaves and Fishes
A team member prepares packaged meals for distribution.

Bushey says, “Food scarcity doesn’t care what your zip code is, doesn’t care what your background is, you’ll find hunger in every single corner of our community.” At Loaves & Fishes, there is an emphasis that food insecurity doesn’t target any one type of group. Those that need help the most are our friends, neighbors, and those around us.

According to Bushey, with the support of the City of San José’s Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, corporate partners, foundation partners, and individual and family donors, their contributions help serve 7,000 meals a day and are deserving of a much-appreciated shout-out of appreciation.

Thank you to all the #SiliconValleyStrongHeroes at Loaves & Fishes and their community partners, who are bringing food resources to those in need in our community.

For more information on how you can access and find food resources in your neighborhood, visit bit.ly/SCCFoodMap.

For more information on Loaves & Fishes, visit loavesfishes.org.

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