Hunger at Home

I would honored to receive this grant to advance the scope of my life’s work on two levels:

·       To support Hunger at Home as we continue our journey to solve the problem of food insecurity.

·       To provide me with personal resources to further inspire others to put them on their own personal path to self-discovery.

I believe that when you see a need, do something about it. It is why I founded Hunger at Home to bridge the gap between surplus and need, and how I live my life every day. I had a successful career as a hospitality director, started my own nonprofit, inspired others to get involved, and now mentor high school and college students to help them find their passion and become part of the support network this world desperately needs. I love to hear others express their desire to create change and be part of the solution, and help set them on their path. This grant would advance my competency to lead Hunger at Home and to mentor others. Helping someone become mindful to discover their potential means everything to me. Having their trust is a privilege, and it makes me a better person.

I am a simple man. I grew up with adversity but never thought of myself as a victim. When I started my own family, I viewed that as the opportunity to take full control of the direction of my life. My personal mission statement: “I will maintain a positive attitude and sense of humor in everything I do. I want to be known by my family as a caring and loving father, and by my business associates as an inspirational leader, creative, fair, and honest person, with the highest level of integrity.” Leave it better than I found it. Peace within myself. Respect for others. Dignity for all. This is my purpose.

Hunger at Home was inspired in 2008 while volunteering at a soup kitchen. When my 8 year old son looked up at me and said, “Dad, we have to do more to help,” I knew I had found my calling. This organization has been through several evolutions since then – growing from a volunteer-based food rescue nonprofit into a meal preparation and distribution operation relied upon by thousands of people during the pandemic.

Inspired by life’s goodness, my goal is to encourage others to find their calling.

At Hunger at Home, we believe that we get more done when we work together. We are experts at food rescue, meal preparation, handling, and safety. We are also experts at building relationships. Operating in accordance with the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, we inspire businesses to donate – not dump – their surplus food and other usable goods. Our hospitality partners include Santa Clara County’s largest entertainment and sports venues who call us after each event, convention, concert, or game. Our nonprofit partners rely on us to help them do their good work in the community. We know who needs fresh protein, fruits, and vegetables to prepare nutritious dinners in their kitchens for their clients, and those wanting ready-to-eat meals, packaged sandwiches, and snacks for homeless youth. With Hunger at Home, their cupboards and refrigerators are always full.  

We also educate our partners on how to operate in compliance with California SB 1383, which required a 50% reduction in organic waste disposal from 2014 levels by 2020, and a 75% reduction by 2025. Reducing food waste has been our story for years, and we are proudly leading the industry to meet, and exceed, this trailblazing state mandate.

Our approach is to feed anyone experiencing food insecurity, no questions asked. We follow our own model with our own guidelines, and are nimble to respond to the needs of the community, whatever that might be. When a hotel offered us used exercise equipment, we had it delivered to a men’s recovery home. When presented with nearly a thousand pillows and blankets after another hotel’s 2019 remodel, we rented a truck and drove 200 miles to a temporary shelter for Northern California wildfire victims. When several individuals from a neighboring homeless camp tried to break into our storage facility, we brought them food and invited them to come back during business hours. And when the pandemic hit and thousands of restaurant workers were suddenly furloughed, we hired 23 of them, leased a commercial kitchen, repurposed thousands of pounds of donated food, and opened a drive-through meal distribution center.

Our team is comprised of caring and talented culinary professionals, powered by a board president with expert knowledge of running nonprofits, and rounded out by an impassioned board of directors. As a group, we are all in for the same reason – to support those in need. People helping people.

Hunger at Home is impacting life and the environment in Silicon Valley by recovering food waste, reducing landfill carbons, and feeding people experiencing food insecurity. In December 2019, the Board of Directors launched a strategic plan to scale this organization over the next three years by expanding our geographical footprint and laying the groundwork to extend to other cities. Our goal was to rescue one million meals in 2020 with a 10% annual increase thereafter. Then the pandemic hit, and in March 2020 our new meal preparation and distribution center increased annual operations by 460%. Although restaurants and event centers are now gradually reopening on a limited scale, the need is still profound. In fact, not only is the line for food as long as ever, we have recently added two new distribution sites to reach more people throughout Santa Clara County. 

We are not only exceeding our own expectations, we have received extensive media attention for our ability to effectively pivot. The community enthusiastically responded with generous donations, volunteer support, grant funding, and an outpouring of additional food donation resources. With that, we are now in the early stages of formulating our long-term plan to scale into additional cities.