Pay Rent or Buy Food?

Too many people have to answer that question and it’s a tough one. Today’s guest writer is calling out for help. Joy’s Kitchen is located in our Southern Gables neighborhood, at Wadsworth & Woodard. The mission of Joy’s is to feed 6,000 families per month with rescued, nutritious food, while building a strong sense of community and inspiring change towards a sustainable future. That’s a lot to do, and it just got harder. 

A personal appeal by Kathy Stanley, Founder and Director of Joy’s Kitchen

From My Heart to Yours,

We are in a critical need for funding. Every day we gather, we set intentions, we recover food that would be slated for waste and we distribute that food to those in need.

As many of you know, when the government decreased SNAP benefits, we immediately had an overwhelming increase in guest needs. Joy’s has risen once again to the challenges of feeding the people with an increased food recovery schedule. This has meant we needed to almost double our working hours, volunteerism and staff as of March 2023. We also have seen a decrease in giving as our need has increased, making it challenging to maintain our existing structures.

We have supported the hardest hit populations through these increasing needs  by being funded 100% through community for community now for over 11 years. To maintain this project in that integrity, we need IMMEDIATE support.

Right now we have less than 4 weeks left of secured operational support. We need to secure funding through this calendar year to get back into focus of outreach rather than fundraising to do what we do best, FEED THE PEOPLE TOGETHER.

If everyone that sees this donates $5-$20 a month , we can bring JOY together.

You can donate easily through our website and set a recurring payment up there or share this link to all of your social groups and support immediate joy.

Joy’s is recovering upwards of 5000 pounds daily Monday-Saturday and feeding over 5000 a month: groceries for a week or more. That’s about 20,000 folks that are needing joy through what we are able to flow through us. This costs us about $11,000 a month of operational expenses with a bare minimum staff of 2 full time employees, 3 part time employees, equipment, building and operational expenses.

Here is the link to directly donate and set up a recurring payment: joyskitchen.org/donate

Here’s the link to the GoFundMe : https://gofund.me/536f7925

We are asking our bringers to become Sharers of Joy and forward this solid ask to 3-5 people you know want to support Joy. You can copy and send them this link: Pay Rent or Buy Food?

Together we are so strong and we can continue to bring hope through caring for this earth and her resources. Together we can and will save the food and love the people.

You are valued, loved and appreciated. We have proven for the last 11 years that we can come together, hand in hand and bring forward a new way to care for this earth and people by creating a system of nutrition that feeds all, not only with food.

Today we need you to invest with us.

All of my love,

Kathy Stanley
Founder and Director, Joy’s Kitchen
www.joyskitchen.org