Mama’s Kitchen Receives $255,000 Grant from Direct Relief

San Diego, Calif. – Feb. 7, 2025 – Mama’s Kitchen is among awardees from across the country who received a special grant from Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity, which mobilizes financial resources for organizations focused on non-clinical interventions that affect a person’s health. Commonly known as the social determinants of health, these factors include an individual’s physical, social, political, cultural, and economic environment.

“Mama’s Kitchen is honored to receive this transformative grant from Direct Relief. These funds will allow us to expand access to our medically tailored meal services, increasing health equity for critically ill San Diegans,” shared Eva Matthews, Mama’s Kitchen's CEO. “The demand for our nutrition service has surged by 120% over the past four years. This year alone, we expect to deliver over 950,000 medically tailored meals. Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity grant will allow our organization to continue to meet this growing community need and decrease barriers to healthy nutrition.”

Mama’s Kitchen serves populations that are disproportionately affected by critical illness and malnutrition. The $255,000 grant supports Mama’s Kitchen’s work increasing access to healthy nutrition for critically ill community members through its medically tailored meal delivery service.

“This latest round of more than $8 million in grants, made possible by generous support from MacKenzie Scott, the AbbVie Foundation, and Eli Lilly and Company, is the most recent infusion of funding for organizations deeply committed to eliminating health disparities and improving healthcare quality in their communities”, said Dr. Byron Scott, Direct Relief CEO and Co-Chair of the Fund for Health Equity. “Direct Relief is proud to support and grateful for the work they do every day.”

The awardees were selected by the Fund for Health Equity’s Advisory Council, which includes the following members:

• Co-Chair Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, 18th US Surgeon General of the United States, Founder Bayou Clinic, Inc.

• Co-Chair Byron Scott, MD, MBA, Direct Relief CEO

• Martha Dawson, DNP, MSN, RN, FACHE, President and CEO President of the National Black Nurses Association, Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham

• Jane Delgado, Ph.D., MS, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health

• Gail Small, JD, Head Chief Woman, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe

“We are pleased to support Mama’s Kitchen and other grassroots organizations dedicated to advancing health equity and addressing disparities in underserved communities across the United States,” said Dr. Byron Scott, MD, MBA, Co-Chair of the Fund for Health Equity and CEO of Direct Relief. “These organizations are invaluable partners in creating lasting change because they are deeply rooted in the communities they serve, possess firsthand understanding of their needs, and are uniquely positioned to deliver impactful solutions.”

Now entering its 35th year of operation, Mama’s Kitchen is San Diego’s largest nonprofit provider of delivered meals and the city’s only accredited provider of medically tailored meals. The organization delivers medically tailored meals to individuals and families with a variety of critical illnesses, including HIV, cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. To learn more about Mama’s Kitchen, visit mamaskitchen.org.

ABOUT MAMA’S KITCHEN
Mama's Kitchen was established in 1990 by a San Diego caregiver who enlisted volunteers to prepare and deliver free meals to neighbors who were sick with HIV/AIDS and unable to cook for themselves. The organization realized that a reliable home-delivered meal service was needed to ensure that these individuals would continue to receive nutritious, life-sustaining food. Since then, the organization has expanded its Medically Tailored Meal Service program to other at-risk populations including those living with cancer (2006), individuals with heart failure and diabetes (2018), and individuals with chronic kidney disease (2020). Beyond medically tailored meals, clients also receive nutritional counseling from registered dietitians. In 2024, the organization delivered its 12 millionth meal and became just the second organization in the country to earn accreditation from the Food is Medicine Coalition.

For 35 years, Mama’s Kitchen has never turned away a client who qualified for its services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization responded to an overall 120 percent increase in demand. Mama’s Kitchen continues to provide more than 900,000 home-delivered medically tailored meals and nutrition education to more than 3,000 individuals and families in San Diego County annually. Mama’s Kitchen is San Diego’s largest non-profit provider of delivered meals and the only nonprofit provider of scratch-made medically tailored nutrition. Learn more and make a donation at www.mamaskitchen.org. Connect with Mama’s Kitchen on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

ABOUT DIRECT RELIEF
Direct Relief is a nonprofit, apolitical, nonsectarian organization that provides humanitarian assistance without regard to race, ethnicity, political or religious affiliation, gender, or ability to pay. A global operation, Direct Relief ranks among the country's most effective humanitarian assistance organizations. The only U.S. nonprofit to obtain Verified Accredited Wholesale Distributor (VAWD) certification by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, Direct Relief is among the largest medical suppliers to safety-net facilities throughout the U.S. and the world. A winner of the CECP Director's Award, the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation and the 2013 ESRI President's Award for GIS Mapping, Direct Relief maintains a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, a 100% fundraising efficiency rating from Forbes magazine, and ranks among Fast Company's 10 most innovative nonprofits.

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