05/19/2026
“May is my absolute favorite month because it finally gets warm enough up here to plant things outside! May also brings Mother’s Day (sending so much love to all the Mamas!) and my birthday, followed by my daughter’s just one week later. Squeezed in the middle of that week we get to celebrate Alac, our Director of Community Relations and on the very same day, Mark, current Chair of our Board of Directors. We have much to celebrate this month!
Another source of joy for me right now is watching my incredible team running things at our Market & Cafe every week. These folks work so hard to meet the rapidly growing demand for our services, without compromising the culture rooted in kindness and respect for all, that makes Casting Bread so special.
2026 is already proving to be our busiest year yet, and we’re meeting more new folks every day. From 2024 to 2025 we saw a staggering thirty percent increase in the number of people who visited our Market. And, when I compare January through April, 2025 to those same months this year, we’re already seeing another thirty-one percent increase!
Just last month we fed 1,068 people!
In this line of work serving more people isn’t necessarily something to celebrate. In fact, we would be thrilled if no one ever needed us again. But the data clearly shows that at least for now, our community needs help.
Our team has poured an incredible amount of effort into community outreach to increase visibility and awareness of our work. We’ve been shouting “food, compassion, community!” from the metaphoric rooftops because we have personally experienced the healing that this community can bring and because we believe there is more than enough of it for everyone.
So, I am choosing to celebrate these growing numbers.
Each one represents an individual, a person, who found food, compassion and community here. I am so grateful that every one of them has become part of our Casting Bread story.”
-Clara Coffey, Executive Director
