Contact: http://www.sustainablefoodcenter.org/contactus.html 
Website: http://www.sustainablefoodcenter.org/

Mission/ The Big Picture

Is the Sustainable Food Center (SFC) a food bank or a food pantry? Neither!

“SFC  [an Austin born local nonprofit] cultivates a healthy community by strengthening the local food system and improving access to nutritious, affordable food. SFC envisions a food secure community where all children and adults [do not rely on emergency food programs, but instead] grow, share, and prepare healthy, local food.” [Source: http://www.sustainablefoodcenter.org/] [Read more →]

Contact: http://www.ccctx.org/contact.php
Website: http://www.ccctx.org/ 

The Big Picture

 Catholic Charities of Central Texas is a nonprofit 501c3 certified organization which functions under the Catholic Diocese of Austin but maintains its own independent nonprofit status. The organization’s mission is “to work to strengthen individuals, families and communities through direct services, community collaboration and social justice advocacy” in Central Texas.

 Catholic Charities functions through the 5 key guiding principles of Love, meaning services are provided with empathy and respect; Service, meaning services are available to all in need without regard to race, religion, or income; Advocacy, with the promotion of social justice and systemic changes; Integrity, operating with high professional standards; and Stewardship, providing meaningful opportunities for individuals to give service to others. [Read more →]

Contact: communications@austinfoodbank.org
Website: http://www.austinfoodbank.org/ 

The Big Picture/Ultimate Goal

Capital Area Food Bank of Texas’s (CAFB) mission is “to nourish hungry people and lead the community in ending hunger”.  CAFB has an enormous impact, providing food and grocery items to more than 300,000 hungry Central Texans every year. The Food Bank focuses on getting people who are food insecure* and hungry* out of the food line. To find out what hunger looks like in Central Texas, take a look at CAFB’s Hunger in Central Texas Fact Page and check out this link. [Read more →]

Contact: info@hopefoodpantryaustin.org
Website: http://www.hopefoodpantryaustin.org/

The Big Picture/Mission

Established in Austin in 2000, the mission of Hope Food Pantry Austin is “to help alleviate hunger by sustaining, strengthening, and educating disadvantaged families in our community.” The pantry gives groceries to families in need in the hope those families who are barely making ends meet can push through their hard times with the assistance of the food pantry. [Read more →]

Contact: http://www.manosdecristo.org/contact.html
Website: http://www.manosdecristo.org

The Big Picture

Founded in 1988, Manos de Cristo, an Austin non-profit organization, serves tens of thousands of underprivileged and working poor in the Greater Austin Community annually. The goal of Manos de Cristo is to enable its clients to be self-sufficient through a three pronged holistic approach addressing basic needs, health, and education.

The organization started out as a dental clinic serving the poor and homeless, and later developed basic needs and educational programs in an effort to increase its outreach capabilities. Sure enough, Manos de Cristo’s impact has succeeded in reaching more and more community members year after year, and in 2008 the organization provided services to 15,600 clients. [Read more →]

 Contact: http://caritasofaustin.org/contact_us/index.php 
Website: http://www.caritasofaustin.org/ 

The Big Picture and Ultimate Goal

“Caritas serves as an integral part of our community’s social services network and is Travis country’s largest source of non-governmental assistance. Our mission is to prove a service continuum for those experiencing poverty that begins with a safety net and links them to resources to achieve self-sufficiency. Caritas envisions a community where there is respect for all individuals, hope for those experiencing poverty and opportunities for self-reliance.” (Source: Caritas of Austin 2009 Fact Sheet)

The four main directives of Caritas are housing, food, education, and employment.
[Read more →]

*Written by guest blogger Alan Graham, alan@mlfnow.org

 This year Mobile Loaves & Fishes will serve over 500,000 thousand meals and will probably exceed having served over 2,000,000 (yes! Two million!) since our inception in 1998.  This is incredible but what is astonishing is how many people it took to deliver those meals to the streets directly where people are.  Today we have nearly 13,000 volunteers in six cities throughout the US dedicated to serving these meals with love.  Every night these 17 catering trucks loaded with food, clothing and volunteers head out on to their respective streets to serve these meals.  With such a large army it begs the question of who is really hungry. [Read more →]

Contact: Dr. Namkee Choi, nchoi@mail.utexas.edu , SSW 3.122D
Website: http://www.utexas.edu/ssw/faculty/choi/

Background

Dr. Namkee Choi, a professor at the University of Texas and a gerontologist, has been a board member for Meals on Wheels for 15 years in Buffalo, New York, Portland, Oregon and now here in Austin, TX. She is currently implementing research to gauge the effectiveness of problem solving therapy for depression in homebound adults. [Read more →]

I made it onto a segment of FOX news this morning. Check out the story here.

Contact: Alan Graham, alan@mlfnow.org
Website: http://www.mlfnow.org/site/PageServer 

The Big Picture

Mobile Loaves and Fishes (MLF) is a social outreach ministry targeted at serving the homeless and indigent working poor. MLF’s specific mission is to “provide food, clothing, and dignity to brothers and sisters in need” - and plans to do this through pursuing four goals:

• 1. To break down stereotypes of the homeless
• 2. To pursue a lifestyle of service to the homeless
• 3. To be viewed as the experts in the area of homelessness
• 4. To mobilize volunteers to point in which MLF efforts would affect public policy

MLF’s primary and original function is to utilize catering trucks manned and womaned by volunteers  to serve the homeless and working poor where they live. The catering trucks stop at street corners, under bridges, in parks, weekly rate motels, and housing projects.

Five years ago MLF launched a radical new housing model for the homeless, called Habitat on Wheels. The model lifts people off the streets and provides them with housing in gently used recreational vehicles. [Read more →]