Nestled between downtown San Jose and the quaint town of Willow Glen lies a “little soup kitchen” which was started in 1981. Founder Louise Benson began this work out of her garage when she prepared and gave away peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the poor. Then in 1981, she and her friends started Martha’s Kitchen on the premises of the Sacred Heart Church serving hot meals. The kitchen was named after a biblical figure, Martha, who unfailingly offered hot meals to Jesus and his band of followers on their frequent journeys through the community of Bethany.

On a monthly basis Martha’s Kitchen provides 100,000 meals and distributes 175,000 pounds of groceries each month. While San Jose has been our home for over 40 years, we feel called to provide food security to as many communities as we possibly can. At Martha’s Kitchen we believe that food is a basic human right not a luxury. It is vital that these communities have access to well balanced meals, which include proper proteins, vegetables, and carbohydrates.

Recently, we opened a second location in Watsonville California. We serve hot meals and groceries every Friday to the local community in Watsonville. Martha’s Kitchen - Watsonville has become immensely successful serving over 250 meals and 250 grocery boxes each week to the community.
 
 We send out over 2,500,000 meals annually to over 70 other non-profit organizations in Santa Clara, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Merced, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Fresno, and Monterey counties. Martha’s Kitchen has created a network of cooperating community-based organizations who collaborate to help each other deliver the services for which they have the expertise. Thank you for your support!