500,000 Meals Distributed to Provide Life-Saving Sustenance to More than 1,100 People Daily
You did it. You helped us reach a milestone in our food and water distribution that fights hunger and homelessness. Because of your countless volunteer hours, monetary contributions, and dedication to spreading the word about this program, in less than one year, we were able to distribute more than 500,000 meals to unsheltered individuals.
The program began in May 2020 after local philanthropist Gwendolyn Sontheim of the Aqualia International Foundation LTD (Aqualia) recognized the need to find ways to fight hunger and homelessness and the life-or-death situation facing unsheltered individuals during the COVID-19 crisis. Ms. Sontheim and Aqualia powered the program with the vision and generous financial support to enable us to create and launch the initiative. At its inception, the program provided two meals per day, seven days per week, to 400 individuals per day and now serves more than 1,100 individuals per day.
Finding Ways to Fight Hunger and Homelessness – Together
“This food and water is nothing short of life-saving for the thousands of people experiencing homelessness in our region,” said Drew Moser, LDF Executive Director. “The partnership and coordination needed to scale this program to this magnitude exemplify how this community can come together to help those in need. We are proud of the program’s reach and collaboration across more than 30 outreach teams, service providers, and agencies working diligently to address homelessness. And we are extremely grateful to Gwendolyn and our donors for making it possible.”
In addition to employing several homeless and formerly homeless individuals, we recently used the program’s network of outreach workers to distribute 3,000 Empowerment Plan sleeping bag coats to provide warmth and reprieve from the elements for people sleeping on the streets. The program also distributes COVID-19 prevention hygiene kits in partnership with the County of San Diego, Health and Human Services Agency.
Together We Can Do More
As the saying goes, “teamwork makes the dream work.” This is evident every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when our volunteers meet at MJB Freight Systems and Community Through Hope to sort and distribute meals to participating outreach teams.
Thank you for showing up and sharing your luck!
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