Health Care Quarterly:

Dining facility abuzz with activity

Chef Erasmo Ancheta mashes up 300 pounds of potatoes with more to come as Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada prepares to serve their 51st consecutive free Thanksgiving meal to roughly 1,000 homeless and vulnerable men, women and children on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016.

Catholic Charities Food Pantry & Community Meal

Deacon Tom Roberts, president and chief executive officer of Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, recites a pray to volunteers prior to a free community meal at an unveiling ceremony for the newly expanded kitchen and food pantry at Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, 1501 N Las Vegas Blvd, on Oct. 26, 2016. Launch slideshow »

Every day at Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, the Hands of Hope Community Food Pantry and St. Vincent Lied Dining Facility buzz with activity. Feeding the less fortunate is a major tenet of our mission of service, and we are blessed to have the support of longtime donors and community partners who are committed to fighting Southern Nevada’s food insecurity epidemic.

According to a recent study commissioned by the nonprofit organization Feeding America, more than 15 percent of Las Vegas Valley residents are food insecure. In some of the city’s lower-income pockets, including the downtown corridor where our campus is located, this number is greater than 20 percent. Feeding the needy is a 365-day-a-year project at our food pantry and the daily, free community meal is a mainstay of our Food & Nutrition program.

Despite minimal resources, we make a concerted effort to emphasize good nutrition. Whenever possible, our food is fresh, not frozen, low in salt and high in healthy protein.

The free community meal

The free community meal at the St. Vincent Lied Dining Facility serves between 500-1,000 Southern Nevadans daily from 10-11 a.m. and is a labor of love for our kitchen staff. For them, it’s like being a contestant on a Food Network show. They have limited ingredients to work with and have to create a menu from scratch. We have a small budget to purchase food, so the lion’s share comes from donations, both large and small.

From a nutritional perspective, every meal is centered around the protein, usually chicken, turkey or lean pork. The starch, typically potatoes, pasta or rice, is the next menu star. We use a variety of fresh herbs and seasonings to enhance flavors. Executive chef Jun Lao recently used donated cheese and breadcrumbs to make a creamy casserole. The vegetable side rounds out the meal, and Chef Lao is a master at making the mundane delicious, whether it’s cauliflower with seasoned breadcrumbs or spinach sautéed with garlic and olive oil.

While we always prefer to serve fresh vegetables, if they are not, we opt for frozen, not canned. Canned vegetables are full of sodium, so we like to avoid them whenever possible. A sodium-laden diet can cause high blood pressure and dehydration, and as many of our clients have pre-existing health issues, we are mindful of the risks associated with poor diets. We use very little processed food in the community meal. Cooking from scratch is worth the effort, and Chef Lao trains his kitchen staff in the art of utilizing every ingredient to maximize our donations.

Ingredients like stock and gravy are made in-house. When we make a demi-glace, the stock is made from boiling chicken bones overnight. It’s a slow cooking process, which comes from proper culinary techniques that go back hundreds of years. It’s all about being healthy, creative and using restaurant-quality approaches to budget-conscious cooking.

“Cooking at a nonprofit keeps you on your toes,” Lao said. “While it would be easier to cook with unlimited ingredients, we don’t have that option. We have to be creative. As a chef, that’s the fun part.”

As for dealing with dietary restrictions, it is difficult to accommodate the specific requests of 1,000 individuals. If somebody opts not to have the protein, we will serve extra portions of our side dishes. While it’s not à la carte dining, we do everything we can to ensure clients have a filling meal customized to their personal tastes.

Stocking the food pantry

The Hands of Hope Community Food Pantry is essentially a free grocery store for our clients, providing nutritious food and assorted household items for individuals and families in need. Last year, the food pantry was expanded and remodeled, allowing us to serve more clients than ever. In November 2016, the first five weeks after the remodel was complete, more than 2,800 households were served. With an average of 2.1 people per household, that equates to roughly 6,000 individuals.

So how does the food pantry work? Each household is permitted to shop once a month and can check out 10-15 pounds of dried/canned goods. Depending on our inventory, clients can select anywhere from 10-30 pounds of fresh produce. The rules, however, are subject to change.

For example, when have a shipment of something weighty like watermelons, they are given away as a bonus. We aim to distribute as much fresh produce as we can before the next shipment arrives. Rule number one of the food pantry is that we don’t waste food, especially produce that has a limited shelf life. We also partner with the State of Nevada to use the USDA program, where pallets of surplus food — chicken, canned soups, fruits, vegetables and dehydrated potatoes — supplement the pantry’s offerings for Nevada residents.

In conjunction with community partner Three Square Food Bank, we are making a concerted effort to distribute 25 percent more fresh fruits and vegetables than last year. We’re organizing farmers markets, where clients can check out an unlimited amount of free produce. Our first farmers market was held at our campus on Dec. 17, 2016, and nearly 19,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables were distributed. Food distributed at the farmers markets does not count toward clients’ monthly visits.

While we love a little edible sweetness now and then, we dish out desserts sparingly. Only one serving is offered per visit, as we don’t want our clients to take home a cart full of high-calorie, high-sugar items. Increasing the availability of healthy foods is our primary goal. Donated food tends to be high-sodium canned food, which makes this an increasingly challenging goal. When we receive requests for food drives from local parishes and businesses, we provide them with a list of desirable items, which are generally low-sodium, high-protein foods. Canned tuna and low-sodium peanut butter are ideal from a health/cost-efficiency perspective. Peanut butter provides protein in lieu of lean meats and has a longer shelf life.

While the recent remodel has given us the shelf space to serve more clients, it has made our job a much more rigorous endeavor. In addition, Southern Nevada’s population has grown significantly, which has increased the need for emergency and chronic food services. We couldn’t do what we do without the community’s support and hope you can join us on our mission to battle hunger in 2017 and beyond.

Mike Schmit is Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada’s vice president of Food Services.

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