ABOUT US

Sonoma Family Meal (SFM) is committed to strengthening our local food economy and nourishing our community in times of crisis and stability. At our community kitchen in Petaluma, we prepare nourishing meals for people experiencing food insecurity while running a culinary job training program that creates opportunity for people with barriers to employment and supports the local food economy. When disaster strikes, we proactively coordinate resources to provide quality emergency meals for those who have been impacted.


MISSION

Sonoma Family Meal nourishes the community and creates opportunity by providing culinary job training, quality emergency meals, and support for the local food ecosystem.

VISION

Sonoma Family Meal envisions an equitable, sustainable, and resilient food ecosystem.


OUR HISTORY

During the tragic wildfires of 2017, local Press Democrat food writer and Sonoma Family Meal founder Heather Irwin realized that thousands of families were displaced from their homes and in need of comforting, chef-made meals to eat wherever they were staying. With more than 5,000 homes lost in the Tubbs fire, one of the most harrowing and tragic disasters in Sonoma County history, Heather decided to start a prepared meal program and brought together all her food-industry connections, including local restaurants and chefs, in a grassroots effort to serve nearly 20,000 meals in four weeks. Sonoma Family Meal continued to serve flood survivors, first responders, and wildfire evacuees throughout 2018 and 2019.

In 2020, SFM adapted its model to respond to the unique circumstances of the pandemic and shifted from creating meals in a large kitchen with many volunteers to a restaurant-based model, paying more than $1.7 million to a network of 20 restaurant partners throughout Sonoma County and keeping hundreds of workers employed.

At the end of 2021, we opened our community kitchen in east Petaluma, the organization’s first permanent home after borrowing eight kitchens during the past five years. Since disasters have subsided, Sonoma Family Meal continues to provide prepared meals to food-insecure families through partnerships with other local organizations such as the Petaluma McDowell Family Resource Center, and has provided more than 750,000 meals across Sonoma County since our founding.

Our new kitchen space enabled Sonoma Family Meal to expand its mission, programming, and impact in 2022, launching a tuition-free culinary job training program (CJT) and evolving into an employment social enterprise model. Our students and CJT alumni-turned-staff develop their skills with hands-on work experience preparing the food-security meals, and through several services we offer to the community, including Catering with a Cause and monthly cooking classes. These businesses also help generate revenue for our programs and create more jobs for our students. Keep your eye out, because soon, we will also be launching a food truck and supporting students in food business incubation!

These are exciting times for Sonoma Family Meal, and we are proud to be an ever-evolving organization always ready to respond to the needs of our community the way we know best - good food that brings people together.

local food. local workforce. local resilience.

local food. local workforce. local resilience.