INSIDE BRACKEN’S KITCHEN in Garden Grove, volunteers sorted donated bread, chopped vegetables and separated heads of cauliflower—simple tasks that would ultimately help provide thousands of meals to people across Orange County.
The volunteers came to the kitchen on Sept. 24 as part of the Sisters of St. Joseph’s annual Week of Service. Now in its 11th year, the initiative brings together sisters, employees, parishioners, associates and community members for projects addressing hunger, homelessness and other local needs.
According to Damaris Molena-Morales, program coordinator for the St. Joseph Justice Center, which organized this Day of Service, Nearly 100 people participated in this year’s weeklong effort. Projects included a beach cleanup, packaging food for low-income seniors at the Orange County Food Bank, hosting a social at an Illumination Foundation recuperative-care facility and working at an educational farm. At Bracken’s Kitchen, volunteers helped process donated food and prepare ingredients for meals distributed through shelters, schools, colleges, churches and community organizations.
For first-time participant Rebecca Freeman, the work was both practical and spiritual.
VOLUNTEERS HELP PREPARE MEALS AT BRACKEN’S KITCHEN IN GARDEN GROVE.
“The Week of Service is a way that the sisters have organized the local community and volunteers to really remind us what our call to the Gospel is—to help others and to be present for others,” Freeman said. “It’s also just a fun way to be out and about with our brothers and sisters in Christ doing good work.”
As she separated cauliflower, Freeman said she appreciated seeing how Bracken’s Kitchen combines hunger relief with environmental responsibility.
“There’s also a sustainable practice to how they operate here,” she said. “Having the generosity of making sure food doesn’t go to waste, and seeing how that turns out into this beautiful, delicious meal that they’re putting together—it’s great.”
Lauren Kelly, Bracken’s Kitchen events coordinator, explained that the nonprofit is not a traditional soup kitchen. Instead, its staff prepares meals for partner organizations that distribute them to people in need. Those partners include shelters, Title I school districts with many low-income children and college food pantries. Bracken’s Kitchen also serves hot meals from its food truck at community events.
At one recent school event, the organization served 270 people.
Kelly said Bracken’s Kitchen reaches approximately 2.2 million people annually through its programs. Much of the food begins as donations. Bread is sorted into buns, croissants and loaves, with some repurposed as homemade croutons. The organization quickly incorporates grocery-donated food into meals or shares it with the Orange County Food Bank.
The Week of Service reflects a tradition that began with the Sisters of St. Joseph’s founding in Le Puy, France, in 1650. The first sisters went into their community, identified unmet needs, and responded directly. The congregation brought that mission to Orange County about a century ago.