Food Ministry

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all retreat programs and events at the retreat center were cancelled for most of 2020. Our response to this challenge was the repurposing of the retreat center kitchen. We were inspired to create a new Food Ministry Program to help those in need. Word traveled and we were immediately asked to provide meals for several groups and organizations whose need for food had increased. The critical food needs of homebound seniors, families and the unhoused in our communities prompted us to utilize our then-silent commercial kitchen and our professional kitchen staff to prepare, cook, package, and freeze meals to meet the needs of these special groups in the San Gabriel Valley and in the City of Los Angeles. In just a few weeks' time, the demand for nutritious meals more than doubled and our kitchen staff went from preparing 750 meals a week to 1,600 a week.

Although the need for prepared meals has changed since the beginning of the pandemic, many people in our community continue to experience food insecurity. We now have a wonderful relationship with the St. Francis Center in Downtown Los Angeles; we prepare and package about 250 meals a week for them to distribute to their homeless clients. Each meal is prepared at a cost of approximately $12; our kitchen staff "multiplies the loaves and fishes" by gathering food donations and packaging left-over food from the meals at the retreat center to provide more meals to the St. Francis Center. Thank you for your donation to help us feed people, in body and soul!