Serving the hungry since 1981
Serving the hungry, since 1981.
It is hard to believe that Martha’s Kitchen will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2011. If we were to paraphrase one poet we would say ’30 years is a weekend to an oak tree.’ It certainly does not seem that long. How things have changed in 30 years! Our crowd is so much tamer. There used to be fights that had to be broken up. Now, families come here because we provide a family atmosphere. Looking back at old photos bring a feeling of nostalgia to our old-timers.
The renovation and expansion of our facility gives us the capacity to prepare almost 200,000 meals a year. The sunroofs in the kitchen provide plenty of lighting making our place so much brighter and more welcoming. Come and visit us.
Families at Martha’s Kitchen
We are seeing more families at Martha’s Kitchen. The high unemployment rate is making dire family situations even worse. ‘A landmark study released from Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, reports nationwide that more than 37 million people, one in eight Americans – including 14 million children and nearly 3 million seniors – receive food each year through the nation’s network of food banks which includes the Second Harvest Food Bank. The findings represent a staggering 46 percent increase on a national level since the organizations previously released study in 2006.’
San Jose Water Company Sponsors Thanksgiving in January
San Jose Water Company recently partnered up with Martha’s Kitchen in our efforts to help the homeless. Below is an article written on their website:
Many non-profit organizations serving the neediest populations have been severely affected by the economy. In 2009, the company decided to look for an opportunity to directly assist families that may be struggling due to lost jobs, homelessness, or other severe economic hardships. After re-evaluating SJWC’s corporate giving program, the Community Investment Committee decided to partner with Martha’s kitchen to launch a new program that we are calling “Thanksgiving in January.”
The program is a partnership between SJWC and Martha’s Kitchen, a non-profit organization whose mission is to “feed the hungry with dignity; no questions asked, no judgment made.” SJWC is underwriting the cost of meals for the entire month of January. In addition to the meals, the company is also providing 500 grocery bags to clients of Martha’s Kitchen during the last week of January. These bags will contain food and other basic items to further assist them in their daily lives.
”Thanksgiving in January” kicked off on January 5, 2010. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilmembers Nancy Pyle, Pierluigi Oliverio, Sam Liccardo, Ash Kalra, and Pete Constant were in attendance to support Martha’s Kitchen and give thanks to SJWC’s generosity. The San Jose Mercury News also covered the event and challenged other local businesses to follow in the company’s lead and become a sponsor for a month in 2010.
SJWC is pleased to support Martha’s Kitchen and this partnership reaffirms the company’s commitment to investing our time, talent, and financial resources to improve the quality of life for all members of the community.
Sobrato Family Foundation
Because of your generosity we were able to achieve our matching funds goal. We extend our gratitude to all who donated towards this worthy endeavor. Your efforts contributed greatly to our mission of feeding the homeless and working poor with dignity. Thank you for all your support.
Millionaire Birthday Boy Parties with the Homeless
From San Jose Mercury News, May 2008
Taj Chahal has thrown himself some great birthday bashes. He has rented limos to take his friends to San Francisco. He’s flown to Vegas.
This year, for his 29th birthday, Chahal decided to do something a bit different: He hosted a surprise party for 300 total strangers – complete with birthday cake and party favors for everyone – at Martha’s Kitchen, a San Jose charity that serves meals to the homeless and working poor.
Most of us consider our birthdays as a time to receive, not to give. So why would this guy celebrate his by feeding the homeless?
It’s all about karma, he says.
“If you are blessed to have the things that you have, then you should share them with others.”
Chahal has indeed been blessed. His family moved from India to San Jose when he was 7. After graduating from Independence High School, he attended San Jose State University until his younger brother, entrepreneurial prodigy Gurbaksh Chahal, started his first company at age 16. Taj, then 19, dropped out to work with him. Last year the Chahal brothers sold their latest start-up, BlueLithium, an advertising technology company, to Yahoo for $300 million.
So Taj decided to take some time off, but he’s not the type to veg out in front of the TV all day. He sat down and made a to-do list:
1. Get in terrific shape.
2. Take flying lessons.
3. Do something really nice for people who need help.
After checking the first two items off the list, he began researching local charities and found a video about Martha’s Kitchen on YouTube.
“I was very impressed with the organization. It’s very lean. They really depend on the volunteers.”
Martha’s Kitchen, which opened in 1981 next to Sacred Heart of Jesus Church on Willow Street, serves more than 100,000 meals a year. Everyone is welcome, no questions asked.
A lot of newly rich valleyites would have written a big check, taken the charitable deduction and headed for the spa. But not this guy. He called Edita Cruz, who runs Martha’s Kitchen.
“I thought he just wanted to volunteer,” Cruz said. “So I showed him around and gave him the usual spiel.”
Then Chahal shared his plan with her:
“He said he wanted to buy dinner for everyone. And he wanted it catered.”
Cruz has seen a lot of volunteers come through her doors over the years, but this was the first time she’d heard an offer like this one.
So on Tuesday, when the regulars arrived, they found the dining room decorated with red tablecloths, balloons and festive place mats. Dinner included ravioli and meat balls, salad, garlic bread and, of course, birthday cake.
The tab came to around $8,000.
Chahal, wearing a black T-shirt, red pants and disposable plastic gloves, walked from table to table, serving juice and accepting thank-yous graciously if a bit self-consciously.
One woman told me she asked him how much money he’d made.
“He smiled and said: ‘Not enough.’ ”
Chahal shrugged off the praise, focusing on his work, breaking into a smile only occasionally.
“I really want the people to have an experience they will remember,” he said.
No party is complete without gift bags. On the way out, everyone received a box lunch and a bright colored bag containing a towel, toothbrush and other useful things. The kids each got a toy and some treats.
“This is out of this world,” said Nancy McCary, who has been eating at the Kitchen every week for three years. “I wish Taj the best of luck.”
Chahal confided that the first time he volunteered at the soup kitchen he found it a bit overwhelming. “But you get used to it.”
In a valley filled with young people who have too much money, I wondered if Chahal was trying to guilt his peers into doing something for others. But he shrugged off that notion.
“If someone reads about this and is inspired to do something, that’s awesome. But it should really come from the heart.”
So now that he’s checked his good deed off his to-do list, does he have plans for other charitable ventures?
“In the long term, I want to do something big with philanthropy – scholarships, building schools, that sort of thing,” he said. “You know, when you get closer to the big 3-0 you start thinking a lot about your life.”
In the meantime, he’s already planning a product upgrade for next year’s birthday party.
“I’ll definitely do this again. I’d like to find a way to bring more people in and make it even more special.”
Spoken like a true entrepreneur.
City Council Presents a Commendation to Martha’s Kitchen
Bill Boyrer accepting Mayor Gonzales' Commendation.
Martha’s Kitchen was presented with a Commendation by the City Council of San Jose for serving more than a million meals to the poor and hungry in Santa Clara County over 24 years. Mayor Ron Gonzales (left) presented the Commendation to Martha’s Kitchen’s President Bill Boyrer (second from left) and Edita Cruz, Executive Director (at the microphone) on recommendation by Councilmember Madison Nguyen (second from right).
Inside Silicon Valley’s Hunger Problem
Article by Stett Holbrook for Metroactive.
Soup Kitchens provide hot meals in cafeterialike settings, a help for those who can’t make their own food. In addition to a meal, soup kitchens offer something of a social scene for those who often live on the fringes of Silicon Valley society.
Martha’s Kitchen, located just south of Highway 280 on Willow Street next to Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ church, just underwent a major remodel complete with a gleaming new kitchen outfitted with top-notch equipment. While it’s one of the best-equipped soup kitchens in Silicon Valley, it didn’t start out that way.
Forty years ago, Louise Benson began serving free meals to the poor and hungry from the garage of her San Jose home. Because of the need, the number of people swelled, and in time her neighbors complained of the sometimes ragged crowds that came to her door. So in 1981, she and several friends relocated her makeshift soup kitchen to the grounds of Sacred Heart of Jesus church, which still retains the looks of its origins as a mission that dates back to 1900.
Since the expansion was completed in June, Martha’s Kitchen now serves more than 100,000 people a year in the big dining room and at other facilities in the area.
Martha’s Kitchen, which takes its name from the biblical figure Martha who fed Jesus and his followers, opens for dinner at 4pm Tuesday and Wednesday. Well before then, however, the crowds queue up outside. They arrive on foot, in cars, on bikes and on the No. 25 bus that rolls down Willow Street.
“It’s like a dam breaking when we open the doors,” says Edita Cruz, the soup kitchen’s ebullient executive director.
Martha’s Kitchen doesn’t require its clients to register or provide identification. They just have to be sober and fully clothed.
“We just feed the hungry with no questions asked,” says Cruz, a former tech industry worker who was laid off and started a second career with the soup kitchen. She had already been volunteering with the church and the career change appealed to her.
The dining room is divided into long rectangular tables for single diners and round tables for families. The tables are set with plastic knife and fork, paper napkin and Styrofoam cup. On the menu recently was turkey cacciatore, mixed vegetables, green salad, canned fruit, a roll, cake or cupcakes and a fruit pie. There’s also a soup station serving a good pozole.
Because of the large number of donated turkeys, the meat turns up a lot on the menu.
“They get kind of tired of turkey, but what are you going to do?” says head cook Denis Leyva. “I’ve learned to be very creative.”
The plates of food are set onto trays and stacked onto shelves for people to serve themselves. In addition to the hot meals, there are tables filled with bags of bread and boxes of pastries. Regulars make a beeline for the first-come, first-served table before getting in line for dinner.
To serve the nearly 300 people lined up outside, the volunteer staff opens the doors about 10 minutes early. The crowd files in quickly but orderly. The seasoned diners head right for the bread and pastries where volunteers make sure no one takes more than their share.
Latinos approach the soup line and smile when they learn it’s pozole, a Mexican soup made with pork and hominy. White and Asian diners look a little puzzled with the soup du jour but take it anyway. In just a few minutes the entire group is sitting down and eating. While there is some conversation most of the diners are focused on the food.
A 29-year-old woman by the name of T.C. was dining with her 16-month-old son Blake. She’s been coming to Martha’s Kitchen for three years. She and her boyfriend work, but like so many of the people who depend on food assistance, their income doesn’t leave enough for food, and eating at Martha’s Kitchen frees up money for other things.
“We’re just low-income,” she says.
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Date: Friday, Oct. 8, 2010
Time: 5:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Ticket Price: $100/person
Table Price: $1,000/table for 10
Sponsorships available: Title Sponsor - $10K; Event Sponsor - $5K; Platinum Sponsor - $4K; Gold Sponsor - $3K; Silver Sponsor - $2K
Contact: Edita Cruz 408-293-6111
Venue: 311 Willow St. San Jose, CA 95110 -
