Danville Patients Can Now Get Healthy Meals Thanks To Nonprofit

DANVILLE, CA — Cancer patients and others who are seriously ill in Danville can now get nutritious meals with organic, local ingredients through Culinary Angels.

Culinary Angels has served more than 5,300 meals to Dublin, Livermore and Pleasanton patients and some of their caregivers since its inception in 2016. Founder and cancer survivor Lisa McNaney, who is also a mom to a cancer survivor, secured nonprofit status for the organization in 2019 and runs the nearly all-volunteer organization as its executive director.

Culinary Angels has opened a new kitchen in Pleasanton at the Sunflower Hill at Irby Ranch community — the nexus of interstate highways 580 and 680 — and can now serve those in Danville and San Ramon, McNaney said in a news release.

“The goal of Culinary Angels is to prepare and deliver healthy and tasty meals to a broader
segment of the population," she said.

Meals include an entree, two sides, two soups, a healthy dessert and a pint of bone broth, if requested. A typical meal might include chicken tacos with black bean soup, slaw, herbed rice and energy bites, according to the organization.

Culinary Angels employs a part-time chef, but is otherwise run by about 45 volunteers. The organization relies on produce donations from Fertile Groundworks and Sunflower Hill.

It seeks to both educate people about food and provide fresh, organic meals with antioxidants.

More than nine in 10 patients served by Culinary Angels are undergoing chemotherapy and a fifth of all cancers are related to being overweight, an excessive drinker or physically inactive. Poor nutrition is also a problem, according to Culinary Angels.

Request a Culinary Angels meal here. Donate here and sign up to volunteer here.