For more than three decades, Mama’s Kitchen has made nutritious, medically tailored meals, packaged and delivered to homes by volunteers year-round, delivering thousands of meals every day to critically ill San Diegans.
As the largest nonprofit provider of home-delivered meals in San Diego and the sole provider of medically tailored meals, Mama’s Kitchen is issuing an urgent community-wide call for volunteers ahead of the busy holiday season. Currently, the organization needs volunteer help in three main areas: meal delivery, kitchen/staging, and phone/ office support. The urgent need for volunteers is a result of a continuing surge in demand for medically tailored meals for individuals experiencing a health complication that leaves them homebound. In a press release, Mama’s Kitchen CEO Alberto Cortés said that no amount of volunteer support is too small, even picking up a single meal delivery shift once a month, which takes less than three hours, and can have a tremendous impact.
“We continue to see more critically ill community members enrolling in our Medically Tailored Meal Service,” said Cortés. “Along with that comes the need for increased volunteer support, especially for delivery drivers, to ensure each client has access to this crucial lifeline. We currently need 200 additional volunteers to meet the community needs we anticipate for the rest of this year and into 2024.”
The Hunger Coalition reports that San Diego’s hunger rates have receded to pre-pandemic levels, the organization continues to see “sky-rocketing need” from the critically ill population. Mama’s Kitchen now receives nearly 400 referrals each month. Closing out its 2022-2023 fiscal year in June, the nonprofit discovered it delivered a record- breaking 816,920 medically tailored meals. A 22% increase over the prior year.
Responsibilities of meal delivery volunteers include picking up meals and delivering them to clients’ homes. Volunteer work in the kitchen/staging category can include plating food, prepping the kitchen, organizing and sorting food items, assembling meal delivery bags, loading delivery vehicles, and more. Volunteers working in phone/ office support help with general office tasks at the Mama’s Kitchen office, such as filing, organizing, or answering phones. Volunteer opportunities are available Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
For community members interested in volunteering with Mama’s Kitchen, the first step is to complete a volunteer application. Next, prospective volunteers attend a 30-minute volunteer orientation session (virtual or inperson), where they learn more about Mama’s Kitchen and the volunteer opportunities available. Mama’s Kitchen requires a background check for delivery driver volunteer positions and conducts reference checks for all non-delivery volunteer positions. Individua l s and families are encouraged to apply. Youth volunteers ages 13+ must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. For questions about volunteer opportunities, visit www.mamaskitchen.org/ volunteer/opportunities/ or contact Mama’s Kitchen Director of Volunteer Engagement Philip Chao at philip@mamaskitchen. org or (619) 233-6262.
