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The Breaking Bread lunch and dinner service has been a staple in Palo Alto, providing free meals at local churches to homeless and other needy residents for decades. The nonprofit organization LifeMoves, which has been operating the program for the past five years, announced earlier this month that it would no longer be serving lunch and dinner, deciding instead to serve breakfast at the Opportunity Services Center.
“We looked at ways we could make the program more impactul and we saw that there was a real gap around breakfast,” LifeMoves CEO Bruce Ives told the Weekly in a recent interview, adding that the decision to switch to breakfast was made in an effort to “fill a void.”
Ives said that the organization received support from program stakeholders including the city, volunteers and the faith-based community before moving forward with the change. He also noted that adding breakfast to the pre-existing meal services wouldn’t have been a feasible option due to a limited capacity of staff and volunteers.
While the Opportunity Services Center, located at 33 Encina Ave., already had an existing breakfast program, Ives said that LifeMoves is bringing in its resources to upgrade the offerings and serve more hot, balanced and nutritious meals as opposed to the continental style breakfast the center provided prior to this collaborative effort.
One longtime volunteer felt the decision to close the meal program was unfortunate.
“I’ve been involved with Breaking Bread for about 20 years so, my initial reaction to the change was tremendous disappointment,” said Carol Blitzer, who is also a contributing writer to the Palo Alto Weekly.
“It’s true that there isn’t another group serving breakfast, so there is a need there,” she said. “But it’s disingenuous to say there are plenty of other organizations providing lunch and dinner meals (in Palo Alto), because there aren’t.”
Laurence Wertman, a Palo Alto resident who said he’s participated in the Breaking Bread lunch and dinner program for several years, shared similar sentiments.
“LifeMoves names nine other places serving lunch and/or dinner, but five of them are in San Mateo County, and if you don’t have a car, it’s harder to go,” he told the Weekly in an interview after submitting a letter to the editor opposing the change.
In the weeks before changing the program, LifeMoves distributed a flyer with a list of locations that still provide lunch and dinner services, some of which are strictly for seniors, such as lunch programs at Stevenson House located at 455 E. Charleston Road and the Masonic Center at 461 Florence St. The list also included services in surrounding cities like St. Anthony’s Church in Menlo Park and the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto.
In a statement issued this week, LifeMoves announced that homeless and low-income residents who participate in the breakfast program will have access to the additional services that the Opportunity Services Center provides, including emergency rental and utility assistance, health care, case management and free clothing.
“We are excited to refine Breaking Bread to better meet the needs of our clients. We can support them today with a nutritious hot breakfast and help them change their tomorrow with effective case management,” Ives said in the statement.
The new breakfast program officially kicked off Thursday morning, Aug. 15, when there were about 50 guests for breakfast and about a dozen volunteers, according to Ives. The service will be offered Monday through Friday from 8:30-10:30 a.m.
Since La Comida serves hot lunches to seniors M-F 11:45 to 12:15 at the Masonic Center on Florence St, I wonder whether a charity such as LifeMoves might provide an 11-meal lunch card (normally selling for $30) to homeless seniors. La Comida is part of the Santa Clara County Senior Nutrition Program and subsidizes the lunches, but any senior regardless of income is welcome (suggested donation of $3 for people without a lunch card). The monthly menu can be viewed at
https://www.lacomida.org/menu/.
Maybe some of the homeless, low income people could apply for jobs so that restaurants would not have to close due to lack of staff who cannot afford living around here. They can continue living at the Opportunity Center, can they not?
Solution…hand out meal vouchers to restaurants volunteering to participate in a ‘feed the homeless’ program.
Incentives could include tax breaks/write-offs.
Many decent places to dine in PA…time to share the bounty.
Just have the meals prepped ‘to go’ (aka take-out).
Palo Alto is a wealthy city. They could afford to buy some food trucks & hire drivers & food preppers to drive to established sites where the homeless could get a meal.
Simple, cost effective dinner dishes like spaghetti, tuna casserole etc.
PB, tuna salad, cheese sandwiches for lunch + some fruit.
Not rocket science.
“Palo Alto is a wealthy city.” Last I looked, we’re flat broke. Or worse, a billion in debt.
Too many promises to too many people. Perpetually nosing around for new taxes.
Wait til you see the next ballot. Every solution brings further expenses.
Glad that they ended lunch and dinner. Stop attracting the homeless to this city. I pay a huge mortgage, I suffered years for my career. Capitalism, not socialism! Oil and water don’t mix. All the volunteers who feel good about serving these homeless should invite them into their homes, not invite them onto our city streets.
I respect your honesty. Its good to see people like you are not hiding but out in the open now. Hope you would be more proud of your belifes and at least put your name out their. Most of us have a different view on this subject. Be more proud of what you preach. Have a back bone and put your name out their. Coward/ Gutless yuppie
I volunteered for this program for many years and donated money. I would like for LifeMoves to provide a clearer rationale for closing this program. Some of the attendees were very needy, and it was nice for them to have a hot, sit-down meal as well as a brown-bag lunch to take with them. Some were not so needy, but if we were providing fellowship then that was good. Volunteers would prepare food and also get cooked food that was donated from places, so that was a good use of food that would otherwise be wasted. People who volunteered were pretty devoted, many of them long-timers. Why did this need to close down?
Why can’t Palo Alto have a 365 day dining program for the homeless like Glide Memorial Church in SF? Or a St. Anthony’s style dining hall?
This is a wealthy city & seeing all of the restaurant diners scarfing down their $18.00 spinach salads clearly exemplifies the self-serving, self-centered mentality that permeates this area.
There are no true Christians in Palo Alto…just selfish people.
How about turning the Fry’s complex into a city homeless shelter with shower facilities, a laundromat, dining hall with kitchen & separate sleeping dormitories for women with children, single males & single women?
There is plenty of square footage available and Park Boulevard is easily accesible via Caltrains, ECR or the California Avenue subway beneath Alma.
Social Services & healthcare could also be provided via a joint Palo Alto-Santa Clara County program.
The money is there & fundraising is also another possibility to renew a portion of the funding requirements.
It is time for palo Altans to show some humanity.
No mercy in Palo Alto for those who are less fortunate than average. And that “average” is very, very high. I hate to see this food program eliminate offerings. People, especially our elderly, rely on these meals.
> Glad that they ended lunch and dinner. Stop attracting the homeless to this city. I pay a huge mortgage, I suffered years for my career. Capitalism, not socialism! Oil and water don’t mix. All the volunteers who feel good about serving these homeless should invite them into their homes, not invite them onto our city streets.
^^^What a guy. Is this representative of the the new Palo Alto mindset?
>> There are no true Christians in Palo Alto…just selfish people.
^^^ Non-Christian priorities take precedence these days in Palo Alto. Besides, the neighborhoods are changing so why expect the unreasonable?
>>> It is time for palo Altans to show some humanity.
^^^ Good luck & don’t bet your ‘overpriced’ PA house on that one!