CRRA2019

Chief Operations Officer

Mauricio came to Loaves & Fishes in 2017, with over 20 years of experience in operational leadership in the private sector. He is responsible for the over-all management of Loaves & Fishes meal programs, which deliveries over 550,000 hot meals to food insecure populations in the Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.  Loaves & Fishes took over operational leadership of the A La Carte initiative in June of 2019.

In Silicon Valley, a staggering one in four adults and one in three children are food insecure or at risk of hunger. In Santa Clara County alone, there are more than 200,000 people living under the poverty line. Joint Venture Silicon Valley created a initiative to address both the excess edible food waste headed towards the landfill, and to address hunger in our communities.

A La Carte is the innovative regional approach to the rescue of prepared foods. As a mobile food distribution model, unique to this region, the program is flexible to the needs of both the community and food donors. A La Carte is a fleet of trucks resembling its trendy food truck cousins, that drive all over the region collecting surplus prepared and packaged food from corporate and university campuses, cafeterias, commissaries, and catered events for delivery directly into neighborhoods with high density populations of people in need. A La Carte offers a no-cost, normal, convenient, and dignified experience as people struggle to feed themselves and their families. 

Funded by a combination of foundation and public funds, this initiative is just getting started. In the fall of 2018, a pilot project on Stanford University campus helped us gain the insight needed to launch additional trucks in additional locations. The second truck is expected to launch in San Jose in March 2019.