Our Mission and Impact
At Sonoma Family Meal, we believe food has a special kind of power. It nourishes, comforts, and brings people together, especially in tough times. When you ask about Sonoma Family Meal, the answer is simple: fighting food insecurity at the root, by not only feeding people today, but providing opportunity for tomorrow - through tuition-free culinary job training and economic empowerment.
Since we first started, we’ve served more than 750,000 meals across Sonoma County. That’s hundreds of thousands of dinners prepared for families in crisis, seniors living alone, and neighbors who simply needed a hand. Along the way, we’ve also launched programs that help people find meaningful work in the food industry, rescued tons of perfectly good food from going to waste, and created opportunities for people to thrive, instead of just survive
For us, food is dignity, resilience, opportunity, and community served hot and fresh.
Our History
Sonoma Family Meal’s story starts with one of the hardest moments in Sonoma County’s history: the 2017 Tubbs Fire. Thousands of homes burned, families were displaced, and people were left without a kitchen to cook in. That’s when our founder, local food writer Heather Irwin, stepped in.
Heather saw displaced families struggling and thought, what if we could get chefs cooking for them? She called on her network of local restaurants, chefs, and volunteers, and within weeks, Sonoma Family Meal had served nearly 20,000 hot, chef-made meals. It was grassroots, it was fast, and it worked.
From there, the mission only grew. When flooding hit, we were there. When wildfires returned, we were there. And when COVID-19 turned life upside down, we pivoted again, this time by partnering with 20 local restaurants and paying them more than $1.7 million to prepare meals for families in need. That move didn’t just feed people, it kept hundreds of restaurant workers employed during a time when many feared they’d lose their jobs.
After years of borrowing kitchens wherever we could, we finally opened our own community kitchen in Petaluma in 2021. It’s more than just a kitchen - it’s our home base, a place where meals, job training, and innovation come together to strengthen our local food economy. With this space, we’ve been able to grow programs, support more people, and dream bigger than ever before.
And in September of 2025, we expanded even more, acquiring nonprofit Sonoma Overnight Support and their Unity Kitchen in Sonoma Valley. There, we run a pantry program and distribute daily hot meals to clients. We also plan to expand programming, adding more teen culinary apprenticeships and small food business incubators in 2026.
local food. local workforce. local resilience.
local food. local workforce. local resilience.
Our Values
At the heart of everything we do is a pretty simple mission: to feed our community and create opportunity, strengthening the local food ecosystem
But how we get there matters just as much as the goal. Our values guide every meal, every class, every partnership:
Equity: Good food and job security/stability is for everyone, not just a privileged few.
Sustainability: We reduce food waste by rescuing local ingredients and we extend that same ethic to our funding model. As an employment social enterprise, we generate mission-supporting revenue through our services, creating a more resilient, diversified structure that doesn’t rely solely on individual giving.
Community Resilience: We’re not just responding to emergencies, we’re building a community and economy that is strong in the face of any challenge that comes our way by empowering our clients, students, and partners.
Dignity: Every person deserves to be treated with respect. Sonoma Family Meal believes in giving everyone a seat at the table.
Collaboration: From farmers to restaurants to funders and volunteers, we do this together. We were born from a grassroots effort of people coming together to respond to crisis, and we continue with that spirit of teamwork.
These values are lived out daily in our kitchen - in the meals we make, in the way students are trained, and in the way we show up for the people of Sonoma County.
Programs and Results
Sonoma Family Meal is about more than just meals. We’re about nourishing food, creating opportunity, and building a more sustainable and resilient community. Here’s what that looks like:
Culinary Job Training
Our tuition-free culinary job training program is one of a kind in Sonoma County. In less than two months, students learn knife skills, cooking techniques, food safety, and even other work readiness skills such as resume building, interviewing, worker’s rights, and financial literacy. They also receive a weekly stipend, wraparound support, and real kitchen experience through helping to make the meals for our food security program and social enterprise services. By the time they graduate, they’re ServSafe certified and ready for fair-wage jobs that our team connects them to with local restaurants and food business partners. Sonoma Family Meal also offers Teen-specific culinary training apprenticeships and senior cooking class series on occasion.
Food-Security Meals
Every month, our Petaluma kitchen turns out about 1,000 chef-prepared, ready-to-heat meals that are distributed to local families and seniors through the Petaluma Family Resource Center and other organizations. Additionally, we serve close to 300 meals daily out of our Sonoma Valley kitchen, including hot breakfast, lunch, and shelf-stable items out of our pantry.
Think about the parent who’s juggling two jobs and still wondering what’s for dinner. Or the senior who’s alone and struggling to get to the store. A family displaced in the wake of disaster. These meals provide comfort, dignity, and balanced nutrition support to those who need it most.
Food Recovery and Waste Reduction
Did you know Californians throw away the equivalent of 2.5 billion meals every year while 1 in 5 residents doesn’t have enough to eat? That’s why food recovery and food waste diversion has been part of Sonoma Family Meal since day one. We work with partners like Zero Waste Sonoma to rescue high-quality food that would otherwise go to waste. Then we turn it into nourishing meals.
By doing this, we’re fighting hunger and cutting down harmful methane emissions at the same time. It’s a win-win.
Disaster Response Preparedness
Sonoma Family Meal was built for moments of crisis. Since our founding during the 2017 wildfires, when we served nearly 20,000 meals in four weeks, we’ve continued to support evacuees, first responders, and families through fires, floods, and the 2020 COVID pandemic.
With our permanent Petaluma community kitchen and trained culinary team, we can quickly scale production to provide hundreds of nourishing, ready-to-eat meals a day whenever disaster strikes. We coordinate proactively with local agencies and partner organizations, ensuring we can activate immediately when communities are displaced or access to food is disrupted.
Social Enterprise Services
We’ve also built social enterprises, business services that employ our students and bring in revenue to keep our nonprofit sustainable while still making an impact:
Catering with a Cause: Hire us for your next event and every plate served supports our mission.
Provisions Meal Subscription: Busy week? Order chef-made meals that are ready to heat and eat, while also funding job training and food-security programs.
Community Kitchen Rental: Local food entrepreneurs can rent our community kitchens in Petaluma or Sonoma Valley at affordable rates to grow their own businesses.
Cooking Classes: A different class offered every month with a local guest chef or you can book your own private cooking class as a group bonding activity!
Every one of these services fuels our nonprofit programs. When you eat with us, you’re helping someone else be nourished, too.
Looking Ahead
If there’s one thing you should know about Sonoma Family Meal, it’s this: we never stand still. From wildfires to pandemics,we’ve always adapted. And we’re committed to doing what it takes to meet whatever challenges Sonoma County faces next.
At the end of the day, when people ask about Sonoma Family Meal, we tell them this: we’re chefs, food lovers, and neighbors who believe in the power of good food to lift people up, create opportunities, and strengthen our community.
Contact us online now or call us at (707) 978-2340 today to learn more about our services, classes, and programs!
Frequently Asked Questions
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We’re a nonprofit employment social enterprise in Sonoma County that fights food insecurity, reduces food waste, and creates opportunities for those facing barriers to employment through food. We serve meals in times of crisis and stability, run culinary job training programs, and support the local food ecosystem.
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We started during the 2017 Tubbs Fire, when founder and food writer, Heather Irwin, organized local chefs to cook for displaced families. In just four weeks, nearly 20,000 meals were served.
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We serve food-insecure families, disaster survivors, low-income people, people with barriers to employment, and the broader Sonoma County food community, from farmers to local restaurants.
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There are lots of ways! Subscribe to our email newsletter, make a donation, hire us for catering, join a cooking class, rent our kitchen,or volunteer. Every bit of support helps us keep feeding and training our community.