West Oakland Punks with Lunch

MISSION STATEMENT: 
Punks With Lunch is a non-profit organization run by volunteers dedicated to building community by providing life-saving services, along with harm reduction resources to underserved and marginalized individuals.

VISION STATEMENT:
Our vision is to promote consistent access to basic living necessities and harm reduction services for those in need – with non-judgmental unconditional compassion. Our volunteers engage in direct community outreach while encouraging destigmatization of drug use and poverty. By connecting with our program participants, we empower and provide a safe space for individuals to make informed decisions regarding their own lives.

CALL TO ACTION:
Contact us if you would like to be part of our ever-expanding team of volunteers. We fully endorse efforts to start your very own chapter in support of your surrounding community.

OUR HISTORY:
Punks With Lunch makes approximately 150 lunches a week for people in West Oakland experiencing homelessness and distribute them with needle kits, hygiene packs and miscellaneous items such as dog food and tarps depending on funding and donations. Each lunch has a sandwich, fruit, water bottle, snack, and napkin. These lunches cost about $1 to make and we have been able to successfully grow in scope since our foundation. Originally starting in a small home kitchen, we now host meal prep in a warehouse in West Oakland and have two routes for distribution as well as a stationary needle exchange in more populated areas. We have grown personal relationships with the people we see on a weekly basis, and it’s a passion that has helped us forge both a stronger sense of community and a bond between our own volunteers.  We have are now collaborating with various other organization such as MASH (herbal wound care) and the Berkeley Free Clinic (Rapid HIV/HEPC testing and vaccines) to bring more comprehensive services to our participants. With a limited budget and the difficulty of not being an established 501 c3, we’re seeking a solution to help our program continue to grow and offer even more services and resources with time. We’ve already establish a rapport with the people in our community but we’d like to see it grow. Punks With Lunch is already way more than we expected it to be in a tiny kitchen with five people one year ago, and we have high hopes for building something bigger than what our dreams have now grown to be.