Women's & Children's Free Restaurant (Spokane, WA)

General

• Mission:

Women's & Children's Free Restaurant is a vital safety-net that fills nutritional gaps for women and children in need while fostering dignity and respect, both within our Restaurant and in the community.

WCFR provides three well-balanced meals each week at our Restaurant in an environment that is safe and welcoming. We also provide meals to other organizations in our community at their service site.

Believing in the dignity of those we serve means that we support them nutritionally and with other resources, such as information, in order to live healthier lives. We practice this through our Friday Fresh Market which provides a choice of fresh produce and dairy products for take home, and through the nutrition education that we offer.

• History:

Our organization was founded by a small group of women who saw a need in our community that wasn't being met - a meal program for women and children only. They found a location and provided hot meals several times a month.

As the program continued to develop a board of directors was created, which eventually led to the hiring of a Chef/Executive Director. In 2000, the program served over 4650 meals. The Chef transformed the meals from casserole pot-luck to well-balanced, full meals.

Soon, our program's reputation in the community grew, and we attracted more diners, more volunteers and more donations. In 2004, the Friday Take Out program was added which provided frozen entrees prepared in our commercially-equipped kitchen. These entrees filled an important gap in weekend meal programs. In just a couple of years that program grew into a Fresh Market that now includes a variety of produce and dairy products for take home.

In 2005, we began our first outreach program with Hope House, an overnight shelter for homeless women, providing hot meals a week to their 40 women twice a week. Our outreach program has added additional partners since then, including St. Margaret's Shelter, a transitional housing program for homeless women and children; Crosswalk, a shelter for street youth; Feed Cheney, a monthly meal in a nearby community; and the quarterly Homeless Breakfast in our downtown area.

Around 2008, we began to incorporate more nutrition information into our program, such as sampling of new foods and recipes. Student nurses assist our program on Tuesdays to provide health resources to our guests. Other health care providers set up tables, prepare bulletin boards, and provide information on a variety of health topics.

In 2011 we began a Guest Chef dinner once a month that introduces new healthy food and preparations to our diners. In July of 2011, we will a begin trial program called "Nutrition to Go" that will place healthy, family-sized entrees at low-income childcare facilities. These entrees will be available for families to take home in the event of a food crisis.

All of these efforts are supported by 375,000 pounds of donated food and over 18,000 volunteer hours each year.

• Year established:1988

Registration

• Organization type:Grantseeker
• Country of registration:United States
• Year established:1988
• Tax Determination Letter:Received Determination Letter
• IRS Section:501(c)(3)
• IRS Subsection:None

Web Listing

• Guidestar listed:Yes
• Charity Navigator listed:No
• Give.org listed:No
• Charity Watch listed:No