Pittsburg Free Dining Room funders honored

On a bright and sunny July 15th morning over 150 supporters of both the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) & Loaves & Fishes of Contra Costa (LFCC) took time out to join the partners for the Grand Opening of their new joint operation Pittsburg Free Dining Room. A large part of the ceremony focused on the foundations and individuals who raised the money to build the dining room.

SVdP took time to honor the Y H Soda Foundation, the Valley Foundation, and over 300 individual donors who supported their fundraising efforts. It was noted that many church organizations and individual Vincentians contributed amounts large and small to make up almost $90,000 in individual pledges. SVdP also honored Fremont Bank.

LFCC honored the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation for its very gracious $100,000 donation. It was noted that without this donation the project would not have been able to proceed. LFCC also honored the HEDCO Foundation for its support in purchasing commercial kitchen equipment needed for the project. HEDCO has supported LFCC during many expansion periods in the program history. They funded much of the central kitchen equipment in 2001 and purchased a new vehicle in 2004. We also honored Kaiser Permanente for continuing support of our daily operations, including the new Pittsburg Free Dining Room.

Support now turns to LFCC individual donors to continue contributions for the daily operations and expanded meal service that increases every day. With the opening of the Pittsburg Free Dining room we are cooking more meals than ever before - almost 800 meals a day or about 212,000 meals at the end of this fiscal year.  If you buy food for your home, you can only imagine what our grocery bill looks like. We also have to prep the food, cook it and transport it to 5 dining rooms and 3 partner sites. While we offer a free, hot nutritious meal to anyone who desires a meal in Contra Costa, the fact is there is no such thing as a free lunch.

We ask that you consider donating to support the families, children and elderly that we serve on a daily basis.