RAINBOW KITCHEN COMMUNITY SERVICES
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Mission Statement
Rainbow Kitchen Community Services was founded in 1984, in response to the devastating community impact of the closing of area steel mills. For more than 30 years, Rainbow Kitchen has focused on helping families and individuals to cope with inadequate incomes by addressing their immediate needs, offering guidance and support in times of crisis, and providing the basic stepping stones needed to work towards independence and self-sufficiency. While anti-hunger programming has been a cornerstone of our efforts throughout our history, other successful past programming initiatives have included a health clinic, a child care center, and a food service training program. Our programs and services have evolved over the years, as we continue to meet the changing needs of area residents. Rainbow Kitchen provides a vital safety net for hungry children, struggling families, low-income elderly and disabled individuals, and people who are homeless, unemployed or among the working poor.
About This Cause
Rainbow Kitchen Community Services is committed to improving the quality of life for low-income families and individuals through programs that address hunger, child nutrition, and supportive services. Our program participants rely on Rainbow Kitchen to ensure that families have food on the table; to help meet children’s nutritional needs so they can learn, grow, and thrive; to offer support in times of crisis; and to provide guidance as they work to achieve self-sufficiency. For the low-income people we serve, it is difficult to make ends meet in the best of times. In today’s economy, their situation grows increasingly precarious, as they face rising costs for utilities, transportation, food, housing, health care, and other necessities – along with funding cuts to essential programs that help low-income families and individuals survive. Those who live on a low fixed income, especially elderly and disabled individuals, may never have the resources necessary to meet even their most basic needs and expenses. Anti-Hunger Programs Rainbow Kitchen’s Anti-Hunger Programs provide a source of nutritious supplemental food for low-income families and individuals: • The Breakfast Program provides a substantial, balanced hot meal each weekday morning. Many of our breakfast participants are elderly, homeless and/or have one or more physical or mental health problems. For many, this is their only meal of the day. • The Food Pantry Program serves low-income residents of five local communities, providing supplemental groceries to more than 550 households each month. The on-site Rainbow Kitchen Food Pantry offers a monthly food distribution, as well as home delivery service for individuals whose health limitations prevent them from attending distributions. We also operate four off-site food pantries, serving residents of local retirement apartment complexes for low-income elderly and disabled individuals. • Kids Café is designed to help meet the nutritional needs of hungry low-income children. Operating in collaboration with area programs serving at-risk youth, Kids Café provides participating children with a hot, balanced, nutritious dinner meal, Monday through Friday, year round. Without Kids Café, many of these children would go to bed hungry. Case Management & Supportive Services Through our Case Management program, Rainbow Kitchen offers immediate/crisis assistance as well as short- & long-term supportive services to help clients resolve urgent situations, address specific problems, meet immediate needs, and work to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency. Our Case Manager works in collaboration with a wide network of other service providers to maximize available resources and create a more secure and stable environment, and improved quality of life, for our program participants. Rainbow Kitchen regularly invites other social service providers to visit our programs to conduct outreach and share information concerning health, housing, transportation, and many other issues of relevance to our clients. Throughout the year, we offer a wide variety of services and activities to improve the quality of life for members of our community, including: • Distribution of winter coats, hats, scarves, gloves and clothing • Distribution of donated clothing, household goods, school supplies and other items as available during the year • Holiday assistance: Adopt-a-Family program, holiday meals, angel tree, gifts for children and seniors, turkey certificates, holiday meal baskets • Participation in community events • Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program • Host site for food stamp eligibility screenings, nutrition & financial education opportunities • Collaboration with other providers to offer classes on nutrition, financial wellness, etc. • Volunteer and community service opportunities for adults and youth Helping Youth Rainbow Kitchen is committed to helping the youth in our community towards a brighter future. We offer community service and volunteer opportunities for young people, and work in collaboration with other local organizations to bring summer jobs, special programming, and mentoring opportunities to low-income youth. Last year, Rainbow Kitchen distributed well over 300,000 pounds of supplemental groceries and essential non-food items to low-income families and individuals through our Food Pantry program. We provided 16,000 hot, balanced, nutritious daily dinner meals to hungry children through Kids Café, and served an additional 19,000 meals to our Breakfast program participants. Through our Case Management program, Rainbow Kitchen helped meet the immediate/crisis needs of 200 households a month, and provided ongoing guidance and support to clients working to achieve self-sufficiency.