The Hope Center
FOOD CAMPAIGN
This fundraising campaign will allow us to serve up to 150,000 to 200,000 meals annually.
The Current Need
Access to consistent, fresh, nutritious food is a major contributing factor to good health. Without it, overall quality of life and health are jeopardized.
- Rates of food insecurity are as high as 40% in many regions in Alameda County,* including area in which we serve our Community Meal.
- High levels of food insecurity correlate with both physical and mental health issues.
- Those who experience food insecurity are more likely to be under- or uninsured.
- A disproportionately high level of BIPOC individuals come to BFHP for food support.
*Data from a recent study by the Alameda County Community Food Bank and the Urban Institute.
Expansion and Future Need
Last year, BFHP served over 63,000 meals to members of the community experiencing food insecurity.
When The Hope Center opens in the summer of 2022, it will become the new home of BFHP’s Free Community Meal.
We will provide a fresh, daily meal to everyone living in The Hope Center and Berkeley Way apartments, as well as those in the surrounding community.
Community Meal will serve:
- 53 Permanent Supportive Housing Units
- 12 Transitional Beds for Veterans
- 32 Emergency Shelter Beds
- 89 Affordable Apartments (BRIDGE Housing’s Berkeley Way project)
- Anyone experiencing food insecurity in the community, whether housed or unhouse
Your Contribution
BFHP relies on a combination of donated food products as well as purchased items to ensure maximum quality, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of the program. We maintain a high standard of nutrition and freshness in all the food items we serve. Your contribution helps ensure that someone who might have gone hungry will have a lovingly prepared, hot, healthy meal to enjoy, and brings one more struggling neighbor into the BFHP spectrum of service
What do our meal guests say?
Lena
“This meal does make a difference. It is so important.”
Anna
“It’s always good… the cooks are wonderful, and they cook real well. I like vegetables, and that’s why I come, they always include a lot of vegetables.”
Raymond
“When you’re homeless, you often don’t know when your next meal is coming, so meals like this are good because the food is good and you know it’s going to be there.”
History
Bringing good food to our community since 1970.
When a small group of Berkeley churches gathered in 1970 to serve a hot meal to those in need in the community, little did they know that they were laying the foundation for what we all now know as Berkeley Food & Housing Project. Over the past 51 years, BFHP has built a full spectrum of services – shelter, housing, Veterans services, employment support, and more – from this foundational program, and food still plays a huge role in the work we do every day. Food not only meets an immediate human need, it builds connections with clients we may not have reached otherwise, opening the possibility to connect them with our wider array of services.
“Hunger is not an issue of charity. It is an issue of justice.”
~ Jacques Diouf, former Director-General of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization
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