At the Dec. 29 board meeting of Something Special Food Pantry, board members heard presentations from Mama’s Kitchen and Being Alive to consider a possible takeover by one of the two agencies. After some deliberation, the board voted to join the Mama’s Kitchen Family in order to continue providing food for close to 700 people a month.

“Both organizations did a wonderful presentation,” Kim Fritz, chair of the Something Special Food Pantry board, told the Gay and Lesbian Times. “We just felt it was a better fit with Mama’s Kitchen.”

The decision to allow the takeover comes at the end of one of Something Special’s toughest years. Federal budget cuts to AIDS services organizations and reduced donations combined with the effects of the grocery store strike proved so crippling to the agency that it was actually forced to temporarily close its doors because there was no food on the shelves.

Mama’s Kitchen has become one of the best known and most widely recognized AIDS service organizations in the county, providing three meals a day to nearly 400 people. This past year the organization was awarded a four-star rating by Charity Navigator, a non-profit organization that provides in-depth, objective analysis of the financial health and performance of 2,500 of America’s largest charities.

“Basically, I included our proposal that we intend to provide the services similar to how they are doing things at the pantry,” Alberto Cortes, executive director of Mama’s Kitchen said. “Effective the first of February the program will be a program of Mama’s Kitchen. We are basically anticipating that we are going to be providing about 17 pounds of food per month per person, with a goal of it being nutritionally well-balanced and aimed at improving the health and well being of those who are served.”

Mama’s Kitchen is planning to provide Something Special’s clients with approximately 17 pounds of food per person, per month. The qualifications for services will remain the same, which requires an HIV diagnosis and income at or below poverty levels. Leaders of both organizations emphasize that the transition will be made as smoothly as possible to ensure that there is not break in services.

“It will be an enhancement,” Fritz said of the takeover. “The services will not be changing; we think it will be an enhancement to what they are currently receiving. Mama’s Kitchen, I know, is hoping to offer additional programs in the future.”

Cortes added, “Our intent is the same as what the pantry had, and over time we are looking to provide some nutritional education and some cooking classes and other things that will help people become self-sufficient and utilize the product to their maximum use and maintain their health.”

Something Special will begin notifying clients about the change in providers immediately Fritz said.

“We are going to send a letter to the clients and they will have two options,” Fritz explained. “They will either sign a waiver allowing us to give their information to Mama’s Kitchen or they can contact Mama’s Kitchen directly.”

She added that, in addition to notifying clients, Something Special is planning an event to acknowledge the hard work done by their board over the years. “There are a lot of people in the community we want to thank. We want to make a big announcement and make sure the clients know this is a very positive move for all of them.”

In addition to notifying its clients and the public, Something Special is also working with Mama’s Kitchen to locate a new location for the pantry.

“The lease is up, but it will be somewhere either nearby or definitely near bus routes,” Fritz said about the selection of a new location. Even without the takeover, the pantry would have been moving this month. “We are very sensitive to our clients needs in terms of bus routes and ease of accessibility. That’s one thing that we definitely made sure of… it needs to be accessible and close to the community.”

Mama’s Kitchen is ready for the challenges that it faces in the coming month Cortes said, “We’re going in with the assumption that we are going to be serving 700 clients per month.”

For the immediate future the pantry will remain an all-volunteer organization, but in the future Cortes sees the possibility of a part time employee being hired to manage the organization. As always though, food donations will be needed from the community and in their continuing effort to keep the shelves stocked with food, Something Special will be holding a food drive at the Ralph’s grocery store in Hillcrest from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Look for volunteers from Something Special outside both entrances to the store who will be more than happy to share with you a wish list of goods from the store and to accept donations from you on your way out.