Mission
Feeding the hungry with dignity; no questions asked, and no judgements made.
Our Founder
It is incredible that very little is known about a person who left such an indelible mark of goodwill as her legacy. She was dubbed “Mother Teresa of San Jose” during her lifetime. With the help of her Pastor Fr. John Coleman and a few close friends she left us with two large non-profit organizations in San Jose: Sacred Heart Community Services and Martha’s Kitchen. As founder of Martha’s Kitchen, Louise Benson put her energy and resources into building an organization for the purpose of serving the poor in the community. Like the many believers of her vision, we wish to pursue her mission and continue her work especially in the area of hunger. Won’t you join us?
Since then, about 4,500,000 meals have been served with the help of volunteers from surrounding communities, schools and churches of all denominations, along with individual donors in the spirit of Louise Benson’s concept of feeding the hungry in our community. |
History
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.
Today, this “little soup kitchen” is not so little anymore. It still gives out nutritious hot meals onsite with its mission to “feed the hungry with dignity, no questions asked, no judgment made.” At the end of 2018, it had served over 4,500,000 meals since its founding, and has now grown to an annual production approximately half million meals. How does Martha’s Kitchen accomplish so much with so small a staff? The answer is COLLABORATION. By collaborating with other meal sites, we are able to take advantage of economies of scale making it possible to prepare meals more economically. It averages us $2.50 to prepare each meal. We send out over 400,000 hot and cold meals annually to over 60 other non-profit organizations in Santa Clara county as far south as Morgan Hill and Gilroy, as well as Merced, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. The “little soup kitchen that could” has proven it certainly could run an efficient kitchen with a lean staff of 9 employees.
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. This arrangement allows participating agencies to focus on their core competencies at the most efficient level by avoiding duplication of services.
Today, this “little soup kitchen” is not so little anymore. It still gives out nutritious hot meals onsite with its mission to “feed the hungry with dignity, no questions asked, no judgment made.” At the end of 2018, it had served over 4,500,000 meals since its founding, and has now grown to an annual production approximately half million meals. How does Martha’s Kitchen accomplish so much with so small a staff? The answer is COLLABORATION. By collaborating with other meal sites, we are able to take advantage of economies of scale making it possible to prepare meals more economically. It averages us $2.50 to prepare each meal. We send out over 400,000 hot and cold meals annually to over 60 other non-profit organizations in Santa Clara county as far south as Morgan Hill and Gilroy, as well as Merced, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. The “little soup kitchen that could” has proven it certainly could run an efficient kitchen with a lean staff of 9 employees.
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. This arrangement allows participating agencies to focus on their core competencies at the most efficient level by avoiding duplication of services.
Hunger and Food Insecurity
Hunger is our primary focus. Just ask any chronically hungry person what his goals are and you will most likely get a blank stare. Even those of us who can afford three square meals a day know that it is hard to focus on anything else with an empty stomach.
At its location at 311 Willow St. San Jose, CA 95110, Martha’s Kitchen serves not only as a soup kitchen and a central kitchen that prepares meals for other sites. It also serves as a clearing house of produce, meat, poultry, frozen and baked goods collected by a band of volunteers from grocery stores and produce markets. These are sorted, then usable goods are kept for meal preparation, and any surplus shared with partner agencies.
At its location at 311 Willow St. San Jose, CA 95110, Martha’s Kitchen serves not only as a soup kitchen and a central kitchen that prepares meals for other sites. It also serves as a clearing house of produce, meat, poultry, frozen and baked goods collected by a band of volunteers from grocery stores and produce markets. These are sorted, then usable goods are kept for meal preparation, and any surplus shared with partner agencies.