A Helping of Hotdish

A Helping of Hotdish is a Twin Cities, Minnesota mutual aid organization by neighbors for neighbors. Our motto is "feeding neighbors where they are at." We aim to reduce barriers to ending individual poverty by cooking hot and nutritious meals for unhoused and housing insecure neighbors - and delivering directly to them. Food, especially prepared food, is often inaccessible simply because it is in an awkward location. The Twin Cities like many major urban areas is full of food deserts, areas without access to full nutrition, and transportation is a barrier especially in a state which is so bitterly cold and buried half the year. We partner directly with homeless shelters and encampments to regularly deliver and serve meals with no strings attached. We aim for a rapid response model to conform to the needs of the unhoused, as opposed to expecting them to conform to our needs. Because they are transient, encampments and other sites of need come and go, so we do as well. We partner with churches and community centers to use their kitchens left empty because of COVID-19, rescue food from restaurants and collect bulk donations, and are completely run by neighbors who look at the world and think "I'm always saying 'someone should do something,' why can't I be that someone today?"