Meals for Poor & Homeless Women & their Children

Report on Food Programs in Fiscal Year 2018
March, 2018

We at Rosie’s Place greatly appreciate your generous support through GlobalGiving of our critical Food Programs for poor and homeless women and their children.

Rosie’s Place’s Dining Room Program

Rosie’s Place’s Dining Roomis designed to solve short-term hunger needs by providing breakfast every weekday and lunch and dinner every day—365 days a year. This fiscal year, Rosie’s Place will serve more than 100,000 hearty and healthy—nutritionally balanced meals—to women and their children.

During the second quarter of FY2018 from October 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017:

• 4,784 weekday breakfasts were served.
• 2,145 weekend brunches were served.
• 9,099 lunches were served.
• 8,356 dinners were served.
• This is a total of 24,384 nutritious meals served during the quarter.

On the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays during this quarter, our Dining Room staff served traditional holiday foods on tables decorated with white tablecloths and beautiful seasonal flowers. In the afternoon, a DJ played a variety of different songs while the guests danced to the beat. The staff and volunteers enjoyed spending time with the guests during these festive holidays, and the guests were so grateful for the food, fun and their Rosie’s Place family. And on the day before Thanksgiving, the cast of the touring production of The Color Purple joined us to serve dinner to our guests and treated guests, staff and volunteers to a performance from the show.

Rosie’s Place’s Groceries

Another vital food program is Rosie’s Place Groceries, a food pantry that allows nearly 1,900 women per month to take home 20 to 40 pounds of foods that their families prefer and enjoy. Rosie’s Place’s Groceries is unique. While many other agencies hand out pre-bagged groceries, our guests shop among shelves set up like a grocery store for foods their families will prefer and enjoy. Like our Dining Room, the Food Pantry uses this culturally sensitive approach to respect the dignity and self-esteem of our guests while ensuring that our resources are used effectively.

From October 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017, Rosie’s Place’s Groceries’ staff:

• Welcomed 3,955 daytime and 2,457 evening guest visits for a total of 6,412 guest visits for the quarter, an increase of 636 visits from this quarter last fiscal year. This total includes 2,915 visits from guests aged 65 and older, and of this group, 999 women returned for a second visit during the same month.
• Prepared pre-made bags of groceries for 23 guests who are unable to come to Rosie’s Place to shop.
• Added a survey to collect basic health information on our guests—information on high blood pressure, diabetes, heart issues, etc.—in order to help us better understand the health needs of our guests and provide appropriate food items.
• Created a brochure with food pantry information in multiple languages to answer common questions to accompany our many informational signs. These pamphlets have been distributed and shared with several local non-profits.
• Organized classes with Cooking Matters to offer monthly trips to a local grocery store for guests interested in learning more about how to make healthy meals on a tight budget.

With your support, we will continue offering nourishment and nurturing to the thousands of women who count on Rosie’s Place each year. Rosie’s Place does not accept any support from the city, state, or federal governments, nor from the United Way so we depend on private donations from friends like you. Thank you for being part of our community and for supporting our Meals for Poor & Homeless Women & their Children project on GlobalGiving. Your friendship means so much.