Reach Out
Project: Community Meal Program expansion and operations
Request: $15,000
Reach Out provides nutritious, home-cooked meals and essential support to individuals and families throughout Jefferson County. Because many of the people it serves have limited or no transportation, Reach Out brings meals and resources directly to them.
Approximately 180–200 people are served each week in Port Townsend and the surrounding area. They include people experiencing homelessness, low-income individuals and families, people living in transitional or supportive housing, individuals in recovery, and shut-in or homebound seniors who cannot easily access other food resources.
The barrier: getting there
Most food assistance requires the recipient to travel. That single assumption excludes a whole population.
The people Reach Out serves face limited or no transportation, physical disabilities, chronic health concerns, fixed or very low incomes, housing instability and social isolation. Homebound seniors are especially vulnerable — mobility limitations and lack of transport can prevent them from shopping for groceries or attending a community meal at all.
Delivery solves it. And a delivered meal does something a food box doesn't: it arrives with a person. For someone who is isolated, that regular knock at the door is part of the service.
Here is the problem you can help solve
Reach Out's current kitchen has reached capacity; they cannot safely and efficiently prepare more meals per week in the space available, however many people ask.
So the need is growing while the capacity isn't. Without expansion, Reach Out would have to limit future growth even as more unhoused individuals, low-income residents, seniors and homebound neighbors turn to it.
At the same time, increased food, fuel, utility, vehicle maintenance and operating costs are squeezing an already tight budget. Ongoing monthly expenses run approximately $1,500–$2,000 for food, containers, fuel, utilities and vehicle costs.
What your donation makes possible
With an expanded kitchen, Reach Out can work more efficiently, bring in additional volunteers, safely prepare larger quantities of food, and respond to continued growth in demand. The organization currently serves about 200 meals each week alongside other food distribution.
The measures are straightforward: meals prepared and delivered, people served, and the ability to add new recipients without reducing service to anyone already depending on them.
Without this funding, Reach Out may have to limit the number of meals prepared, delay needed kitchen improvements, and reduce its reach. That would push pressure onto other local food, housing and social service programs, and leave some of the most vulnerable residents with fewer dependable sources of nutritious food and personal connection.
The bottom line
Building improvements are hard to fundraise for and easy to undervalue. But a kitchen extension isn't just a building project; it's a permanent increase in how many people can be fed every week, for years.
Your donation buys square footage, and what comes out of it is dinner.
