A Cinema Premiere to Benefit Safe Ground Sacramento.

Safe Ground Sacramento is hosting the premiere of filmmaker Costa Mantis’ extraordinary documentary on the life and times of Sacramento’s homeless people as they campaign to establish a safe place to be – a safe place to rebuild lives – a place called ‘Safe Ground’.

March 31st, 7-9pm
Historic Guild Theater
2828 35th Street
Sacramento, CA 95818

Tickets – $10 in advance/$15 at the door.
Purchase tickets by emailing Tina@uptownstudios.net or Tamie@sachousingalliance.org.
Tickets also available in the Loaves & Fishes administration.

Mayor Johnson put together a task force to study the idea of a Safe Ground called Stepping Stones. The task force has finished the study and put together a series of recommendations that has been approved in concept by the policy board.

Here’s the vision:

• To create a safe and sustainable community that serves as a “Stepping Stone” to permanent housing
• Stepping Stone has four key components:
  • Housing is transitional only
  • Safe and secure
  • Empowering environment
  • Professional outreach and triage support
• Stepping Stone serves as one element of an integrated strategy to end homelessness
• In three years, we want Stepping Stone to be a best practice example and will be admired for a successful track record, innovative programming, and aesthetic appeal.=

You can download the full summary here.

We’re running out of tents! Each night we are lending out tents to homeless people who have no shelter. The tents are starting to get worn out. If any one has any extra tents we could really use them especially with the continuing stormy weather.

Tents can be brought to Loaves & Fishes at 1321 North C Street, Sacramento. Monday through Friday between 7am and 230pm.

2010 has dawned and we are excited to see what the new year will bring.

2009 was quite an adventure:

1. Sacramento County Settled on the lawsuit brought forth by homeless people whose personal items were taken and trashed without permission.
2. The Safe Ground movement gained steam and continues to fight for the right of everyone to have a safe place to sleep at night.
3. The Economy has effected everyone. In December alone we saw 70 newly homeless women and children at our day shelter.
4. The swelling Tent City was featured on Oprah and other national media then swiftly shut down by the City of Sacramento. Read our view on Tent City.

We are looking forward to 2010 and working with all our volunteers and supporters to continue to provide survival services for the poor and hungry men, women, and children in Sacramento.

We served our Christmas meal on Friday, Dec 25 at noon. We served over 1,000 homeless and hungry men, women, and children. A big thanks to the entire Sacramento community for showing up to volunteer and bringing in hams, pies, cranberry sauce, and all the fixings.

We couldn’t continue to serve the homeless if it weren’t for everyone’s service and dedication to helping the least among us. On behalf of all our guests and staff thank you!

As Christmas approaches, Loaves & Fishes is thankful for the community support that makes it possible to help the homeless and  feed the hungry.  Yet you our donors have been affected by the economic downturn. The number of December donors is the same this year as last but the dollar amount of the donations is down by 14%. The same number of people are giving but they are each able to give less money this year.

Many of our guests rely upon the lunchtime meal and services that they receive at Loaves & Fishes to make it day by day. Throughout the many changes that Sacramento has seen in the past 27 years, Loaves & Fishes has remained a constant.  Serving meals 364 days of the year, Loaves & Fishes has fought to ensure that hungry individuals and families have a place to turn.  Our guests are not only individuals suffering from mental illness and physical disability, but they are also the working poor, the elderly and newly homeless families.  Loaves & Fishes relies on the financial support of the community to be able to provide a haven where people can come to receive support, find a caring presence and eat a home cooked meal.

Donations in the “giving season” sustain us throughout the rest of the year.  Please consider giving a special gift, no matter how large or small, to Loaves & Fishes to help preserve this essential safety net for individuals and families who have fallen into homelessness. Loaves & Fishes relies on private generosity; it receives no government funding.

We will be holding a special Press Conference with Sister Libby, Representatives from Maryhouse, Friendship Park and Mustard Seed School as well some of our guests who will share what Loaves & Fishes has done for them.

WHEN:  Wednesday, December 23 – 11:00am
WHERE:   Brother Martin’s Courtyard, Loaves & Fishes

Our Christmas meal will be on Friday, December 25th at 11:00am. We are planning on serving a hot meal and giving out Christmas Stockings to over 1,000 people!

Christmas can be a hard time of year for many of our guests. Often they don’t have any family to celebrate with or a home to decorate. We try to help by bringing holiday joy to our dining room through decorations, wonderful meals, and welcoming smiling faces. If you can help please consider donating some of the below food items. Your kindness and generosity make a difference.

We Need:

Please deliver items by Thursday, December 24 to:

Loaves & Fishes Warehouse, 1400 North C Street
Sat. & Sun. December 19th & 20th, 8am to 3pm
December 21st – 24th, 7am to 4pm

There are over 2,000 people sleeping on the streets every night. They need a safe place to rest their heads and get out of the rain.

Join us Tuesday, Dec 29th at 1:00pm

We will be marching from Loaves & Fishes – 1321 North C Street
to City Hall – 9th and I Street.

Bring your signs and your enthusiasm and stand up for the homeless.

Mustard Seed School invites you to join them in bringing gifts to homeless children. You too can bring the joy of Christmas to homeless kids. The children who receive these gifts are either currently enrolled in the Mustard Seed School or their families obtain services from one of our other programs at Loaves & Fishes.

Last year you were able to provide gifts for 85 families!

We need new unwrapped toys for children ages infant-16. Toys need to be delivered by December 15th. We will be giving the toys along with wrapping supplies to our families on December 16, 17, and 18th.

We also need wrapping paper and scotch tape.

Call 916-447-3626 before coming down to make sure someone is available to receive your donation.

Photo by Jerome Love

We served our Thanksgiving meal Tuesday November 24th. Thanks to the support of our entire community we fed over 1,000 men, women, and children. We had an incredible outpouring of food donations and were able to serve a delicious meal of Turkey, Stuffing, Yams, Green Beans, and Mashed Potatoes.

Here are some pictures of the meal.