Feeding the ‘hidden hungry’
Nonprofit ramps up meal service to meet growing need during the pandemic
For 40 years, Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen has provided free hot and nutritious meals to homeless and needy people in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. The demand for its services has skyrocketed as the coronavirus pandemic rages, as people lose their jobs or don’t have enough money for food. We recently caught up with Loaves & Fishes CEO Gisela Bushey, who has been with the San Jose-based organization for three years. On top of her regular duties — strategic planning, board relations, financial strategy and other matters — she’s now working nearly round-the-clock to steer the program through the busiest and most challenging time in its history.
Q
How is Loaves & Fishes coping during a time of incredible demands and change?
A
It is still a little bit like drinking out of a fire hose. We saw things were going to go south quickly. We had to completely reinvent ourselves. We’ve gone from providing 2,500 hot meals a day to 7,000. It was a scramble. We ramped up our fundraising. We’ve purchased more bulk food. In prior years we’ve had as many as 5,000 volunteers, doing everything from kitchen prep to bagging lunches. Now, we have a core group of about 50 volunteers and a staff of 18. We don’t have the luxury of shutting our doors and opening at a later date.
Q
What have you learned in recent months?
A
If this pandemic has done anything positive, it has shone a light on food insecurity in our communities. It’s helping people understand just how precarious things are. There are 800,000 people (in Santa Clara and San MUS gy >> Parg 2