PLATINUM2023

BREAD LINE INC

Feeding People & Affirming Lives

aka Stone Soup Cafe   |   Fairbanks, AK   |  breadlineak.org

Mission

"Feeding people and affirming lives"

Ruling year info

1989

Executive Director

Hannah C Hill

Main address

PO Box 73715

Fairbanks, AK 99707 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

92-0111082

NTEE code info

Emergency Assistance (Food, Clothing, Cash) (P60)

Congregate Meals (K34)

Urban, Community (S31)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

The Bread Line, Inc. is an anti-hunger organization in Fairbanks, Alaska that directly addresses issues of food insecurity and poverty. The downtown area of Fairbanks, where we operate, is considered a "food desert," with a high incidence of homelessness and poverty. In 2016, we saw a 19% increase in the number of people utilizing our soup kitchen.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Stone Soup Cafe

The Bread Line’s soup kitchen, the Stone Soup Cafe provides free, chef-prepared meals, every weekday. Our mission is to "feed people & affirm lives" by providing good food to hungry people without question: all are welcome, all are served.

Population(s) Served
Health
Social and economic status
Unemployed people
Homeless people

Stone’s Throw is a culinary job training program that empowers people to pave a path to economic security in food service careers.

Students receive progressive on-the-job skills, classroom training & support group benefits. All training phases come together in the real-life setting of a busy kitchen, allowing individuals to learn & practice both technical and employability skills in a supportive environment that fosters self-sufficiency, commitment, consistency, self-awareness, productivity & growth.

Annually, Stone's Throw hosts two adult programs (one in the fall & one in the spring) at our downtown facility. We also offer age-appropriate classes in the winter & summer to the Alaskan youth incarcerated at the Fairbanks Youth Facility.

Population(s) Served
Health
Economically disadvantaged people
Incarcerated people
Immigrants and migrants
Unemployed people

In partnership with The Fairbanks Memorial Hospital - who generously made a garden space available to us - the Bread Line launched the Stone Soup Community Garden in 2015. Growing into more than 50 raised beds, our downtown garden is a volunteer-run program that gives real-time instruction on urban agriculture, makes garden space available (for free) to food insecure downtown residents & provides community collaboration.

The Stone Soup Community Garden grows food for use in the Bread Line's soup kitchen, the Stone Soup Cafe, as well as proving food relief to at-risk individuals, other local organizations including several assisted living facilities & other social services.

Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Homeless people

Kids’ Cafe is a monthly gathering of families & Stone Soup volunteers. The project collaborates with the Fairbanks Children's Museum & other local organizations to educate children what food insecurity is in our community & learn what young people can do about it.

On the third Saturday of the month, September to May, family volunteers make food for the following week in the Bread Line's soup kitchen, make decorations for holiday events & learn about being a good citizen.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Families

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of volunteers

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Health, Social and economic status, Age groups

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

We track the number of volunteers for each Bread Line program, daily.

Total number of volunteer hours contributed to the organization

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Social and economic status, Health, Age groups

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

The Bread Line tracks the number of daily volunteers as well as the amount of hours served.

Number of meals served or provided

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Age groups, Health, Social and economic status

Related Program

Stone Soup Cafe

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

The Bread Line serves free weekday meals to anyone in need from our soup kitchen, the Stone Soup Cafe, in interior Alaska.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

ISSUE: living with hunger
Bread Line's Aim: feeding hungry people at our Stone Soup Cafe ISSUE: barriers to employment
Bread Line's Aim: culinary job training in the Stone's Throw program ISSUE: community engagement
Bread Line's Aim: Kids Cafe and the Stone Soup Garden Project ISSUE: hunger in our neighborhood
Bread Line's Aim: community collaboration to alleviate hunger

We have four established programs to achieve our goals: our flagship project, the Stone Soup Cafe, which employs a chef and dozens of volunteers to serve hot meals daily; our Stone's Throw culinary job training program engages people experiencing employment issues and empowers them to make life changes, under the tutelage of professional chefs and life coaches; both the Kid's Cafe & the Stone's Throw Community Garden supports community collaboration and keeps our efforts in the public eye; lastly, we have a number of public outreach programs that help alleviate hunger in our community and are a source of earned income.`

We currently have a full service, 100 seat capacity, soup kitchen facility, housed in a building we own, in downtown Fairbanks. We operate a morning meal Monday-Friday that also provides a sack lunch to go. From this same location, we run our Stone's Throw program, with three full-time chef instructors and an administrative assistant. Additionally we lease a one acre plot for our 40 bed community community garden. The food from our garden supplements the Stone Soup Cafe, our Summer Food Service Program and a number of anti-hunger community collaborations. The Bread Line is supported by a robust volunteer program of more than 150 volunteers annually. We also have had great success utilizing the AmeriCorps VISTA program for site-specific projects.

In 2016, we provided 37,940 hot meals to our guests at the Stone Soup Cafe and delivered another 13,938 meals to our low-income neighbors. Our Stone's Throw culinary program graduated eight students with 80% of our graduates successfully employed within 90 days of graduation. We look to increased that to 18 work-ready students graduating in 2018. Our garden has harvested approximately three tons of produce, since it started in 2015. Much of those vegetables went to augment food programs for low-income residents in downtown assisted living facilities. In the future, we look to increase our contract meals with our strategic community partners. We will also be taking on a new AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer to research and implement food-related employment programs. We will also hope to on a licensed social worker to coordinate pass-through social services for our Cafe guests and training program students.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback

Financials

BREAD LINE INC
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

BREAD LINE INC

Board of directors
as of 07/27/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board co-chair

Jason Case

Self Employed

Term: 2021 - 2024


Board co-chair

Donald Crocker

Fairbanks North Star Borough School District

Term: 2021 - 2024

Karen Lane

The Pen Guy

Kristina Miller

Alaska Public Defender Agency

Jennifer Redmond

Grants Administrator at Chugachmiut

Kunaan Smyth

Mother

Carla Baker

Interior Alaska Center For Non-Violent Living

Erin Bartenstein

Alaska Public Defender Agency

Brianna Grey

Fairbanks North Star Borough School District

Ileane Polis

Alaska Public Defender Agency

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Not applicable
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 7/27/2023
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Non-binary
Sexual orientation
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, or other sexual orientations in the LGBTQIA+ community
Disability status
Decline to state

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

Disability

We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.

Equity strategies

Last updated: 07/21/2023

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.