Mama’s Pies 2014

Have you heard of the largest bake sale on the West Coast? If you’re like me, you probably weren’t aware of it. I’m talking about sale of Mama’s Pies – A bake sale benefitting Mama’s Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that delivers healthy meals at no cost to San Diego men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS or cancer who are vulnerable to hunger.

Last week I had the privilege to join other bloggers at the Mama’s Kitchen headquarters and learn about the people they serve and their current fundraiser. Mama’s Kitchen was founded in 1990 to answer a need to provide healthy, life-sustaining meals to AIDS patients who were too ill to care for themselves. They have since expanded their clientele to cancer patients and have opened a food pantry in 2004 for HIV/AIDS patients whose income is less than $1400/month. All clients go through a referral and/or approval process so that the services are being used wisely. 

Mama’s Kitchen’s lifeblood is its volunteers. The kitchen prepares the food and volunteers deliver 3 meals a day, every day of the week, to over 1400 families per year. That is a lot of work! On our tour, we saw the staging of the meal delivery. Bags were being filled with meals that can be prepared for two days plus a hot meal to top it off right before delivery. When volunteers found out that some clients would give the delivered food to their children, the kitchen decided to make bags to feed a family as well. 

Learning about Mama’s Kitchen really struck a chord with me. Their and order online by November 23. You can choose your pie and pick-up locations around San Diego county. Their goal is to sell 5,100 pies to raise $129,000 to fund more than 41,000 meals.  If you’re not in San Diego, buy a pie for a Mama’s Kitchen client or simply make a donation. Every dollar helps!

Thanksgiving is a great time to spread the love through food — not just in our own homes but for those who are prone to hunger due to illness as well.