Rainbow Kitchen’s fiscal year ending on June 30th, and we had quite a year! We are extremely proud of the food and services our staff has provided this past year and, in sharing these statistics, want to emphasize that the need for basic services in our community is growing each month. As costs rise and pandemic-era assistance programs come to an end, the services that Rainbow Kitchen provides are in greater demand every month. Donations of any amount are always welcome!
During this past fiscal year, Rainbow Kitchen has:
- Distributed 449,914 pounds of supplemental groceries through our Food Pantry Program which serves 6 communities of the Steel Valley. Over 500 households each month received food through this program.
- Provided 23,892 hot meals through our Breakfast program, many to the elderly, homeless, and individuals with one or more physical or mental health issues. Others are among the working poor, including families with children, especially during summer months. For many of our Breakfast participants, this is their only meal of the day. Our Breakfast Program served about 375 separate individuals this past year.
- Provided 19,745 nutritious meals to over 300 children through our Kids Café Program. The Kids Café Program operates in collaboration with local programs serving at-risk youth. Without this program, many of these children would not receive a nutritious dinner meal. We also provide the children with a variety of extras throughout the year, including additional food & snacks, and non-food items such as toothpaste and toothbrushes, winter scarves, back-to-school backpacks and school supplies.
- Responded to an average of 125 requests each month for crisis assistance and ongoing supportive services to help clients resolve urgent situations, address specific problems, meet immediate needs, and work to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency. Our Case Management & Supportive Services Program regularly provides everyone who accesses our services with packets of information on available resources for an extensive variety of needs and makes referrals to other organizations for assistance as needed. We work in partnership with a wide network of social service organizations in the Greater Pittsburgh area.
- Started holding Monthly Resource Events. This is our newest initiative in which we invite other service providers to provide outreach, education, information about their programs and services, enrollment in programs they offer, and direct services. These events have been very well received by members of the community as well as service providers, and is growing every month.