Grace & Mercy is a multifaceted charitable organization with the goal to uplift others and create a more holistic, unified community. Our facility, located near downtown Lodi, operates as a safe haven for the unsheltered and/or hungry. Every month in our Soup Kitchen (Tuesday-Thursday from 8:00AM-1:00PM) we provide approximately 400 free nutritious meals. These recipients get to enjoy a hot, freshly prepared meal on our spacious outdoor patio. To minimize waste and maximize our impact, all leftover food is pre-packaged into to-go meals that they may take with them after the cafe has closed for the day.
We also have a 5,000 sq ft warehouse that provides just enough space to receive/store food donations from individual community members, ministries, corporations, and other non-profits in the area. The various food donations received go towards the preparation of our Soup Kitchen meals or, alternatively, are converted into food boxes that are provided to low-income families and senior citizens. We even provide support to local farmers and help feed local livestock using organic produce that is no longer considered edible by human standards.
Grace & Mercy provides food and supplies to those in need, but it doesn't stop there. We also offer services and resources that help others help themselves. Services such as voting or voter registration which can be a difficult thing to accomplish for someone without a permanent residence. Additionally, we aid others in their professional growth by offering volunteer opportunities to gain work experience and build a sense of comradery that will hopefully result in a paid position at Grace & Mercy or elsewhere. Seeing peoples' lives change for the better is the highest achievement we can accomplish and it is one that we are indefinitely working towards.
Help us serve and leave our community better than we found it.
Here at Grace & Mercy, we are constantly establishing new projects that further accomplish our mission to ensure nobody goes hungry. One of our newest projects will expand our outreach all the way to Africa! Comparatively, our cultures may differ vastly, but they also share some commonalities. Financial pressures and inadequate food access combine to create a perfect storm that inevitably forces young adults/children to drop out of school in search of unskilled labor. However, with unemployment rates still around 50% in Kibera, a vast population of slum residents are unsheltered, unhealthy, famished, and impoverished. Although it is much more prevalent in third world countries, issues such as homelessness and hunger run rampant behind closed doors within the United States.
