Who we are:

Loaves and Fishes is an outreach ministry of Newman Hall-Holy Spirit Parish providing direct service to the needy and homeless in the Berkeley-Oakland area. Any community member who would like to prepare and/or serve meals to the homeless is welcome to participate. All expenses with receipts are reimbursed.  Volunteers must be at least high school age, and must sign up for all events in advance.

For more details on this year and this past year, click here to download a report by Joe Burns.

Loaves & Fishes provides the following direct services to those in need:

1st Saturday Community Dinner 1st Saturday month of each from 4-7 PM.

Hospitality Night at the Men’s Shelter every 1st Monday.

Breakfasts & dinners at the Women’s Shelter on various Saturdays & Sundays

What we do:

Community Dinner every 1st Saturday from 4:00-7:00 PM.

  • A sit-down, family style dinner for 100 guests (including children) and 60 meals-to-go bags for the overflow group.

  • Volunteers prepare food, cook, serve food, host tables, and clean up.

  • Preparations for the dinner are on Saturday mornings of the 1st Saturday weekend.

Schedule of activities:

  • 9 AM-Noon preparing food

  • Noon-4 PM: preparing food & cooking

  • 4-7 PM: serving guests, hosting tables, cleaning-up

  • 2-7 PM Patio Crew: set-up chairs, coffee bar, check-in guests, etc.

  • 5:30-5:50pm: Entertainment provided by volunteers.

Hospitality Night at the Men’s Shelter every 1st Monday.  Volunteers share: conversation, pizza, salad, dessert, & punch with 35 guests.

Breakfasts & dinners at the Women’s Shelter on various Saturdays & Sundays

  • Volunteers prepare a full breakfast for about 35 guests, including children

  • Preparation begins promptly at 6 AM and service ends by 7 AM

  • Dinner preparations begin at 5:30 PM, and service ends around 7:30 PM for about 35 guests, including children

  • Shopping is best completed before the day of the event.

  • Volunteers prepare and serve a meal for about 35 guests, including children

How can I volunteer (in normal times):

Community Dinner:

To sign up to volunteer, please click here: SIGN UP LINK . At the link, you’ll find open volunteer roles & dates for meal preparation and cooking, dinner hosting and serving, as well as clean up.

To provide entertainment for the dinner, please sign-up with Bill Joyce at webike at yahoo

To be part of the patio crew, please sign-up with Bill Joyce at webike at yahoo

  The following volunteer opportunities require a long-term commitment or willingness to be On-call as a Substitute when one of the regular volunteers is unable to serve.

Hospitality Night at the Men's Shelter

For volunteering and information once Covid restrictions are lifted, watch this space.

Breakfasts & Dinners at the Women's Shelter

To substitute or get more info contact Joe Burns at lf.newman.hall at gmail.com.

How can I help financially:

As always, during Covid, we value your financial support. To help us continue to provide quality meals to those in need you may —-

+ Write a check payable to Loaves & Fishes, send to:

Loaves & Fishes
2700 Dwight Way
Berkeley, CA 94704

+ Donate online at Newman’s Donation page.   Go to “Flexible Frequency” section and enter an amount in the LOAVES & FISHES field and specify if it is one time or a monthly.

The Loaves & Fishes Team thanks you for supporting our outreach ministry at Newman.