Over 5,000 Meals a Week to be Delivered Across the San Gabriel Valley

In response to food insecurity spreading among the unsheltered and formerly unsheltered, Union Station Homeless Services has responded quickly by massively scaling up to deliver meals to its clients throughout the San Gabriel Valley. 

StartingFriday, April 3, Union Station Homeless Services will be prepping and delivering5,000 meals a week to its clients.It is anticipated that the needcould grow rapidly to over 6,000 meals a week.

“Ourvulnerable and at-risk clients, living in our bridge housing and supportivehousing sites as well as hundreds of our clients staying in motels andapartments, now depend on us for food. With the help of our partners andamazing staff, we have swiftly responded and are delivering meals to theirresidences across the San Gabriel Valley,” states Anne Miskey, CEO of UnionStation Homeless Services. “In this time of crisis, we are showing how we liveour core philosophy of meeting our clients ‘where they are at’ –physically andemotionally.”

Union StationHomeless Services is meeting the urgent food needs of its clients in threeways.

Scheduled Meal Deliveries throughout the San Gabriel Valley

Residents atCentennial Place, a permanent supportive housing facility in Pasadena, andlocations throughout the San Gabriel Valley will have scheduled deliveries ofprepackaged meals and snacks to cover two to three days every Tuesday andFriday. This massive distribution of food is the coordinated effort of adedicated Union Station kitchen staff, a small group of volunteers andcommunity partners.

“We arehonored to partner with Union Station Homeless Services, and be able to do ourpart in helping to feed our community’s most vulnerable,” said JoachimSplichal, Patina Restaurant Group Chef and Founder.

On Mondaysand Thursdays, staff and volunteers receive, sort and label prepackaged mealsinto individual grocery bags for each resident. On Tuesdays and Fridays, tworefrigerator delivery trucks, provided by the Patina Restaurant Group areloaded for deliveries. When the trucks arrive at each location, the on-siteUnion Station staff offloads the trucks. They then deliver the packages to theright to the resident’s doorsteps and check-in to see how they are doing, whilemaintaining social distance.

Single deliveries to clients

On acase-by-case basis, Union Station Care Coordinators will also be making emergencydeliveries of meals and needed necessities to their clients living inapartments and motels scattered across the region. Many are at risk and cannotleave their places of dwelling and are in desperate need of supplies and foodfor themselves and their children.

Continuing meal service at the Bridge Housing locations

Three onsite meal services a day with enhanced social distancing protocols are continuing to be prepared and served at the Adult Center and Family Center. While in the past, legions of long time volunteers have been a part of the Adopt-a-Meal program and packed sack lunches for residents, the kitchen staff has had to assume the preparation and serving of all three meals.

Before theCOVID-19 outbreak, the organization served 2,200 meals a week at its facilitieswith the help of hundreds of dedicated volunteers, many who had served dinnersor made sack lunches at the facilities for years. With many long-timevolunteers needing to stay at home and new social distancing protocols, theexponentially expanded kitchen work and food distribution are now being handledby a dedicated kitchen staff of only three people along with food servicestemps and a small number of volunteers under the direction of Marissa Gamboa,Food Services Manager. 

Critical need for community help 

To continueto meet the increasing demand for food and necessities for its clients, UnionStation Homeless Services is in urgent need of the following donations from thecommunity:

• Monetary and in-kind donations to support additional meal service, including increased breakfast and lunch service for kids who are now home from school.
• Funds to support increased staffing needs in the kitchens and bridge housing in place of volunteer support, which during normal operations is the backbone of their community meals program.

An updated list of needed items is available at unionstationhs.org/c19urgentneeds/.

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