Program News

Staff members of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVdP) and members of the Hess Construction crew helped the Loaves & Fishes staff practice for feeding the public prior to the dining room opening on July 7th. On Friday July 2nd we were able to feed approximately twenty people who work in the building a hot nutritious lunch, along with salad, bread and dessert.

July 6th was to be the last day of making preparations to open our new joint partnership dining room with Saint Vincent de Paul. The plan was to do another soft opening day and just feed the staff in the building and the construction workers on site. This was our way to practice for tomorrow’s opening to the public. When word gets out and people show up, Loaves & Fishes (LFCC) needs to be accommodating.

When Girl Scout Makenna Hall started selling her Girl Scout cookies this year she came across a unique sales pitch that sold cookies and helped Loaves & Fishes of Contra Costa.

“I would ask people if they wanted to buy Girl Scout Cookies,” said 14-year-old Makenna, “In this business you have to get a lot of rejections before you get a sale.” She added, “They would say, I’m on a diet, or I can’t eat sweets, so I would say: Pay for a box of cookies and I will donate them to Loaves & Fishes."

Do you want to help Loaves & Fishes, but you are not sure what we need? Would you like to purchase an item and have your company name placed on a sponsor plate? Here is a list of items that Loaves & Fishes needs to purchase in the next six months:

•    $3,000 for a new weatherized roll up door for our catering kitchen. PG&E has donated $2,000 towards the $5,000 cost of this project. This new door benefits to LFCC by keeping cold air out during the winter months and cool air in during the summer months, thereby reducing our energy costs.
•    $7,200 for two new freezers for the catering kitchen to replace two units that are old and in need of major repairs.
•    $ 9,000 for a new water heater, replacing our ten-year-old unit that is deteriorating.
•    $ 3,600 for an ice machine for the kitchen. The current unit was beyond repair and disposed of.
•    $ 5,200 for tables and chairs in the new Pittsburg Free Dining Room.
•    $ 5,500 for various small-wares items for the new Pittsburg Free Dining Room, including carts, trays, cups, mats, trash cans, and kitchen equipment.

For the big-ticket item, we also need a new large commercial truck for meal delivery. The corporate donor would in turn receive space for their logo on the new vehicle. This would provide significant exposure as the truck travels East County in Contra Costa Monday through Friday for six hours a day.