Osl (Operation: Sack Lunch)

Food Insecurity affects 1 in 7 individuals in our State. Food inequity affects people of color, women, children, the elderly, chronically ill, economically challenged, homeless, people with disabilities, indigenous populations, substance abusers, people with mental challenges and dementia, and those who live in isolated rural settings. In 1989 OSL began to fill the need for nutritionally dense, safe meals, using quality ingredients, with an organic ethic; sustainably grown, humanely raised, ethically harvested, and local to the United States. We operate from the premise that meals prepared with love, nourish with love; body, mind and spirit. OSL has served more than 6 million no-cost meals since 1989 and rescued/redistributed more than 4 million lbs of quality meal ingredients slated for the waste stream. The need for our service continues to escalate. OSL is a leader in nutritional service and has been impacting the region’s understanding of “quality” over “quantity” for 27 years. We currently serve more than 40,000 meals each month. OSL SERVES: 3 meals a day every day of the year...500,000 no cost meals annually. COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS: Provides community service opportunities to more than 3000 volunteers annually. MEALS PARTNERSHIP COALITION: Represents more than 100 meal providers; supports, advocates politically, provides resources and education. NEXT STEP: Educates clients, other meal providers, and the greater community, through monthly classes in a lab setting, on nutritionally density using donated food, as well as food and ingredient safety. OUTDOOR MEAL SITE: Providing security, quality control, scheduling of weekend and evening providers, facilitating the service of 180,000 meals annually from the site. FOOD IN MOTION (FIM): Rescues and redistributes more than 730, 000 pounds of viable, quality food that would have been slated for the waste stream. We have 52 donor partners and distribute to 27 agencies.