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Loaves and Fishes is a community-based organization dedicated to alleviating hunger among working poor families, farm workers, and elderly, disabled, and homeless individuals of Central California's Pajaro Valley. We help sustain the lives of thousands of individuals by assisting them with nutritious food, education, and referrals in cooperation with other agencies.
Pajaro Valley Loaves and Fishes combats food insecurity with emergency and supplementary groceries and delicious hot meals every weekday. We provide low-barrier access to anyone who needs food. We served 54,000 lunches and thousands of families with fresh and hearty groceries in 2021.
We envision a Pajaro Valley community in which all people have access to healthy food and the other basic necessities of life. We are committed to working collaboratively to develop a healthier, more food-secure community through direct service and advocacy. Each day we manifest the values of service, compassion and justice in our work.
Access to quality food is a basic human right, and food insecurity is not because of a lack of resources, but due to a concentration of power.
Despite the agricultural bounty of the Pajaro Valley, working poor families, farmworkers, veterans, the elderly, and disabled and homeless individuals struggle with food insecurity — a lack of adequate, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs. 70% of those we serve are farmworkers and their families.
Since 2018, “Pantry-on-the-Go!” provides access to nutrient-dense, individually portioned, easy-to chew, safe-to-store, and ready-to-eat foods for about 400 folks who are homeless or living in single-room units or shelters. Individuals without kitchens now have a consistent, safe, sanitary source of quality foods to foster improved health.
We operate the only lunch program and pantry in the area that's open to all Monday to Friday, and on all bank holidays. We fed 63,323 people in 2021 — more than 5,275 people each month! And we provided more than 588,400 pounds of wholesome food, 46% of which was fresh produce.
Since our first day we’ve been a frontline, boot strapping, humble organization touching thousands of lives each year with a limited budget and efficient operations carried out by hundreds of volunteers and a small but nimble staff.
Loaves and Fishes was initially established as an emergency feeding and aid program of St. Patrick’s Church of Watsonville. In the aftermath of the devastating Loma Prieta earthquake, which struck the area in October 1989, Loaves and Fishes served more than 20,000 meals to thousands of local residents displaced by the disaster.
In 1994, Loaves and Fishes formally separated from St. Patrick's Church while still operating at St. Patrick’s Serra Center. We incorporated as an independent non-profit organization and now operate under the guidance of a board of directors comprised of unpaid community volunteers.
Would you give $4 a month to support four nonprofits that are making a big difference? Join forces with other 52andChangmakers to automatically give to every Cause of the Week. Every Monday, you’ll wake up knowing you’ve already made a difference! As our community grows, so does the impact!
Together we’ve become volunteers in places we would have never expected, planted milkweed for butterflies, provided books to kids in need, helped save endangered turtles, helped turn excess food into nutrition, helped bring art to youth, educated one another about how we are connected to our delicate food systems, helped save abandoned horses and given old dogs new hope, watched foster youth shine in the spotlight of movie making, helped clean tires out of rivers… we could go on and on and on. It is an absolute joy to be a part of such an amazing network of humans making a difference.
“ALMA reconnects the lives of the formerly incarcerated back to the fabric of society. Our participants have the chance at attaining gainful employment and becoming self-sufficient. Urban Farming helps everyone involved explore the relationships between plants, animals and humans as a way of creating a profound connection to both nature and their community.” - ALMA Backyard Farms
While we’re writing this and you’re reading it, Pajaro Valley Loaves and Fishes is out there, finding ways to provide food to more people in need throughout Santa Cruz County, where one of three residents are reported to be food insecure.
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