ORGANIC SOUP KITCHEN

While maintaining excellent service to clients, Organic Soup Kitchen is developing the depth of our strategy and system for client data collection and analysis. Accurate, detailed data allows OSK to improve products enhancing our client’s quality of life. Current client data shows improvements in appetite, energy, and dysphagia. In expanding data, OSK is creating a resource highlighting the urgency and efficacy of nutrition during treatment based on our unique experience. The next step is educating healthcare providers on the value and importance of customized nutrition throughout cancer treatment through an accessible portal.

MEASURABLE OUTCOMES: Our newly acquired headquarters, featuring a retrofitted kitchen, allows for production streamlining and staff development for long-term sustainability. The bottom line for program sustainability is continually developing product to improve outcomes for clients, as reported in enhanced client data. Response rate, response quality, and accurate analysis of data equate to improved quality of life for clients, as well as the ability to improve nutrition education among healthcare professionals.

Outcome 1: Improve Caloric Intake
Low-income cancer clients will receive nutrient-dense soups; of those, 65% will report improved or higher caloric intake. Through data collected, caloric intake has been shown to increase or improve with use of Organic Soup Kitchen soups, due to our higher quantities of nutrient-dense ingredients. Our soups are specially formulated to assist clients during extensive treatments in order to provide them with nutrients that they need to support their compromised immune systems.

Outcome 2: Improved Ability to Swallow
Low-income cancer clients will receive nutrient-dense soups; of those, 80% will report improved ability to swallow foods. Our soups are liquid-pureed to accommodate individuals with throat pain causing an inability to swallow food, or dysphagia. Organic Soup Kitchen soups have enough fats and smooth pureed vegetables to assist with their digestion.

Outcome 3: Improved Ability to Meet Living Expenses
Low-income cancer clients will receive nutrient-dense soups; of those, 70% will report that participation in the program supports their ability to meet their living expenses, such as rent, utility payments, and medical expenses. Over the course of enrollment in our Cancer Recovery Program, Organic Soup Kitchen soups help low-income cancer clients meet their most critical, basic need: nutrient-dense food, while not sacrificing basic living needs.

Our mission is in direct alignment with several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) set forth by the United Nation’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policy. Organizations like ours can take impactful steps and offer creative solutions to ensure the sustainability of our people and planet.

2. ZERO HUNGER
Provide food security to the most vulnerable and medically fragile Santa Barbara County residents, primarily cancer patients, chronically ill and low income seniors.

700+ community members served weekly, 90% low income, 95% age 65+, 90% battling cancer or chronic illness.

3. GOOD HEALTH & WELLBEING
Provide plant based nutrition hand crafted from clean, chemical free medicinal quality ingredients formulated to strengthen the immune system and heal the body on a cellular level.

Break the chain of isolation and reduce stress by providing weekly personal interaction with compassionate volunteer delivery drivers.

4. QUALITY EDUCATION
As a composting hub for the City of Santa Barbara, we educate the community about the impact of wasted food and the ways composting contributes to the health of our local food supply and feeds our Santa Barbara County soils.

Present and provide educational content to local organizations interested in learning more about the relationship between nutrition and chronic illness.

5. GENDER EQUALITY
Gender parity in leadership roles and board of directors.

7. AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY
Transition kitchen and office facility to 100% energy efficient LED lighting.

10. REDUCED INEQUALITIES
Achieve diversity, equity and inclusion across all spectrums of staffing, leadership and board composition.

Ensure an inclusive and diverse workplace and promote diverse communities.

12. RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
Prioritizing the use of local organic ingredients in every recipe, we support responsible agriculture and a shift towards more sustainable patterns of consumption.

13. CLIMATE ACTION
Become a plastic free organization by transitioning to environmentally friendly compostable SoupMeal containers.

Through our robust zero waste food rescue program, we flash freeze and stabilize thousands of pounds of fresh produce each week to minimize waste and reduce our carbon footprint.

Primary site for drop off and pick up for City of Santa Barbara’s Commercial Food Scraps Composting Program.

17. PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS
Contribute to the local productivity and incomes of small scale food producers, primarily through partnerships with local farms and produce providers.

Collaborate with local health and human services agencies aligned with our mission to broaden our reach in the community.

Organic Soup Kitchen strives for collective impact to advance its mission and achieve goals. We believe that our planet and people benefit when like minded agencies come together to set forth creative solutions for change. Through a robust community partner initiative, we collaborate with medical and public service organizations aligned with our mission to understand and expand our reach to our most vulnerable and underserved populations. Our sophisticated software system enables us to track and record measurable outcomes for all of our clients ensuring that their nutritional needs are being met. Our organization is 85% volunteer led which reduces overhead and ensures that resources go directly to the product and service we provide. Through an established business model and a team with 12 years of production and distribution experience, we have the capability to reach and exceed our goals.

Our organization plays a significant role in the health and economic well-being of Santa Barbara’s most vulnerable residents impacting the lives of thousands every year. As government agencies and the private sector scale back charitable giving in recent years, our agency provides an indispensable public service. Organic Soup Kitchen not only strengthens the health and wellbeing of our clients but its impact has a ripple effect on the entire Santa Barbara community.

Cancer and chronic illness are on the rise. In Santa Barbara County alone, there are nearly 25,000 residents with cancer according to the American Cancer Society. Research shows processed foods, full of sugar, sodium and fat, are addictive and cause inflammation which perpetuates the cycle of chronic illness. According to the 2020 Santa Barbara Foundation Community Report, one in four people are food insecure in Santa Barbara County. We provide a service that is unique in its approach. While there are other food distribution sites, we are the only organization in the country hand crafting clinically researched SoupMeals and delivering them to the doorsteps of more than 700 community members each week. We fill a gap by making fully prepared meals with clean, anti-inflammatory ingredients that support the compromised immune systems of seniors, cancer patients and chronically ill. We have an established business model with the potential for broad scale replication in other communities.