Mama’s Kitchen receives first-ever accreditation on West Coast from Food is Medicine Coalition

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — At Mama’s Kitchen the hustle starts early. It’s a race against the clock all while maintaining the highest quality of food standards.

“They work as a team together, they are a formidable team,” said customer Jerry Okey.

Each week more than 900 volunteers are involved and in sync preparing 15,000 meals for some of San Diego’s most vulnerable residents, like Jerry Okey.

You wouldn’t know it from his infectious laugh and positive attitude, but Jerry has a lot on his plate.

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About three years ago, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and subsequently began suffering from a host of other health issues.

“My medical insurance introduced me to Mama’s Kitchen,” said Okey.

Jerry needed to change the structure of his meals and worried about the cost. He was pleasantly surprised to find all of the meals from Mama’s Kitchen are free.

“Very delicious food that they provided,” said Okey.

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Since 1990, Mama’s Kitchen has delivered medically tailored meals for individuals facing critical illnesses such as cancer and HIV.

The Food is Medicine Coalition established a set of standards to create a level of quality across the board for providers of medically tailored meals.

“Mama’s Kitchen voluntarily underwent this independent evaluation to determine the extent to which our processes meet those really high-quality standards,” said Eva Matthews, CEO, Mama’s Kitchen.

Making them the second medically tailored meal provider in the country to receive this accreditation, they’re encouraging other specialized meal providers to take the initiative to do the same.

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“It takes about six months, so it is not a small undertaking and it does require external audits. So it is a rigorous endeavor,” said Matthews.

But for the people of Mama’s Kitchen, the effort doesn’t go unnoticed…. creating a community connection one meal at a time.

“Go Mama’s Kitchen! Thank you!” said Okey.

To volunteer for Mama’s Kitchen visit their website Mama’s Kitchen | Medically tailored meals, for critically ill San Diegans (mamaskitchen.org).

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