Sol Food Initiatives, Inc

Sol Food Initiatives cooks up collaborations of food and joy in East Tucson for the alleviation of hunger and the cultivation of community among the economically and nutritionally vulnerable. We accomplish this mission by creating and hosting collective impacts between nonprofit and commercial partners, fostering pilot initiatives and social enterprises for hunger relief, and managing commissary access to a commercial kitchen.

Sol Food Initiatives pivoted its hunger relief program in 2020 to better serve the growing number of people experiencing food insecurity in Tucson due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in our community. Our initial program, the Great Plate, worked to eliminate food insecurity among low-income
seniors by bringing those individuals into our community kitchen for education and training around nutrition and meal preparation. This program was no longer viable due to the social distancing needed to keep this vulnerable population safe and healthy. Our new program, Sol Food Delivered, continues to serve these seniors living in food deserts in East Tucson by providing healthy meals for curb-side pickup or delivery, and is expanding its impact to families and seniors throughout the greater Tucson area. This program is multifaceted and designed to deepen its economic impact within the community by also supporting local businesses and farmers.

To prepare and deliver these meals, we have partnered with three local organizations that have been negatively impacted by Covid-19 creating mutually beneficial relationships, while meeting the food access needs of our more vulnerable residents. Our partners are Café 54, a nonprofit serving adults recovering from mental illness, Pivot Produce, a small business that supplies local farm ingredients to restaurants, and R&R Family Kitchen, a minority-owned , family catering business.

Each Saturday morning, our volunteer fleet delivers 50-75 homestyle meals to seniors and families in East and Central Tucson. Participants enroll in the weekly program through a texting service. Each healthy, delicious, professionally prepared meal feeds up to 4 people. Additionally, it is supplemented by the weekly micro-CSA, community supported agriculture from Pivot Produce.

The metaphor we use to describe the impact this project has on food security and community health is like a snowball rolling down the hill. Each week, more and more neighbors are helping each other gain access to food. With each connection, the relationship between them strengthens. With each meal, the relationship deepens. With each delivery, the smiles, joy and respect of our volunteers reinforces these connections. With each bite of the most delicious food and locally grown produce, a multivalent program creates a symbiotic web of hope. This community approach nourishes the neighbor in need and it gives one the capacity to share in the agency of helping. This community approach keeps dollars local and leverages local expertise and heart
to help each other. It makes us a stronger village.

Testimonials

Since Sol Food Delivered began in May 2020, this program has been serving the most vulnerable members of our community. Each week nearly half of our meal orders are delivered to our community members, specifically to elderly folks sheltering in their homes or to our low income neighbors who do not have their own transportation. We are also able to deliver these household meals to families who have been stretched so thin during this pandemic due to job losses and virtual schooling of their children. The effects of Covid-19 are more than the eye can see at times, so we remain focused on serving our neighbors with delicious food and joyful spirits.

Recently, a regular dinner guest told us, "You all do a wonderful thing. You are so nice and bubbly at pick-up that we feel it the rest of the day!" At Sol Food Delivered, we strive to have a positive emotional impact like this as much as we try to fill hungry stomachs. We want our meal participants to know they matter, and we hope they feel less lonely or stressed as they enjoy their weekly Sol Food Delivered meal.