The People’s Kitchen uses food to empower, transform, and heal the community through free, nutritious meals, gardening, and education.
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Our vision is a community where no one is without access to healthy food.
The People's Kitchen is a collaborative of chefs, students, and community members responding to Philadelphia’s chronic issues while growing and cooking free, delicious meals. Through our inclusive model and relationship to food, the People’s Kitchen invites people from different social positions and lived experiences to join in solidarity and build healthy, resilient, and just communities.
Our Core Programs
The People’s Kitchen’s programs work together to help build a healthy food system. Here’s how:
Free Meal Distribution
We have strived to combat food insecurity in the underserved communities of South and Southwest Philadelphia by distributing free meals to vulnerable households, as well as hosting a community fridge. Since starting, we’ve distributed over 350,000 meals and engaged 300+ volunteers.
Community Gardens
We expanded our efforts of addressing food insecurity by transforming 30 abandoned plots of land into vegetable gardens. The produce grown in these gardens is available for the community members, as well as used to prepare meals to combat hunger in underserved communities across the city.
Education
We currently welcome a variety of school and homeschool groups, vocational students and interns, into our kitchen to learn about issues of food justice and food waste in the city of Philadelphia, and a wide variety of cooking and food production skills. Sharing skills and knowledge with our volunteers is also a huge part of our mission to address the inequities in our current food system and to shift the power back to historically marginalized communities.
“This is our opportunity to build a restaurant model that is really using our talents in the best way possible.”
Work With Us
The People’s Kitchen offers a variety of volunteer opportunities from providing office support, caring for our plots or helping with special events. To find an opportunity that fits your interest, skills, and availability, please contact us below. Looking for a group or corporate volunteer experience? We’re open to that too!