Stone Soup

For the majority of 2022, Stone Soup continued to coordinate the provision of meals for covid-19 physical distancing shelters set up by multnomah county. In addition to the physical distancing shelters, we were also able to cook and coordinate meals for additional nonprofit-run shelters and treatment facilities. Keeping our local community fed with three nutritious meals a day continued to provide a mission-driven source of income and allowed us to provide catering business for our partner restaurants in very lean times. In 2022, our network of restaurants provided 71,985 meals to shelters and residential facilities county wide. Our small production kitchen served 42,172 meals. Not only did these meals help feed individuals experiencing food insecurity, but they also provided a sustainable and predictable program from which to train our participants.

In 2022, Stone Soup continued to fulfill our mission of training those with barriers to employment. We were able to enroll 46 job training participants during 2022 and of those who graduated from the program, 44% were able to find work within three months of graduation. To increase retention, graduation rates and alumni success, we improved wrap-around services, expanded services available to our alumni network and recently instituted additional financial support opportunities to both graduates and current participants.