Out of a Jam

🌱 Feeding People. Rescuing Food. Transforming Lives. 🌱
Here at Out of a Jam, we are committed to feeding, nourishing, and transforming both lives and rescued ingredients.
Normally, we keep a cadence of prepping and packaging every other week — but truthfully, the need has been too great and increased this summer. For example, in just the first two weeks of June, Out of a Jam experienced an 80% increase in meals packed and a 118% increase in pounds of food rescued compared to the entire month of May.
That means every single week throughout June and July, our team is turning roughly 550 pounds of rescued food into delicious, nourishing meals for our community. So we are now:
🍅 Prepping on Monday & Tuesday mornings
🥘 Packaging meals Tuesday evenings
❤️ Serving more neighbors than ever before
And somehow… We still haven’t lost a finger yet. 😉
You often see us here sharing the need for donations, essential ingredients, and volunteers — and this is exactly why. The demand continues to grow, and we are aiming to put meals on tables.

Thank you for helping us rescue food and restore hope.

Join us next week in the kitchen, we promise you will have fun! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C45AFA82EA0FFCE9-63681378-volunteer #/

Monday Morning Status Report:

Coffee: Brewing ☕
Volunteers: Arriving 🙌
Kids' Classes: Ready 📚
Meals to Prepare: A Lot 🍽️
Excitement Level: 100% 🎉

We're excited to welcome the team from Barrett McNagny today as we work together to feed, nourish, and transform lives across Fort Wayne.

Who says Mondays can't be exciting?!

📢 **IMMEDIATE NEED, FRIENDS!** 📢

We’ve been blessed with a generous donation of office supplies and furniture, and we need your help moving everything!

💪 **Looking for 3–4 strong volunteers**
📅 **Friday**
⏰ **9:00–11:00 AM**
📍 **Meet at the kitchen parking lot: 2310 Weisser Park Ave**

If you’re able to help, it would be incredibly appreciated! If you have **moving straps**, please bring them along as well.

🥫 **We also have an urgent need for pantry items!**
We are especially looking for:

* Tomato products (sauce, diced tomatoes, paste, etc.)
* Canned vegetables
* Corn (our biggest need!)
* Black Beans

If you have any items you’d like to donate, please reach out so we can coordinate a drop-off time. 260-376-HUGS (4847)

Thank you for helping us serve our community. Every helping hand and every donation makes a difference! ❤️

.judefw_ym has done it again. They brought the hands, the hearts, and the joy to our kitchen over the last two days. 1,364 servings, 78 hours of total volunteer time, and so many folders prepared for our Feeding Fort Wayne Kids program. We thank you all immensely for the help, not just here, but throughout the entire city of Fort Wayne this week!

🎉 We're Hiring! 🎉

We have TWO openings on our team and are looking for passionate individuals who want to make a difference in our community while helping grow our Feeding Fort Wayne programs.

🍎 Kids Program Coordinator
We're looking for someone who loves investing in the next generation. This role is about more than teaching culinary skills—it's about helping young people build a strong nutritional foundation that will support their health and success for years to come.

If you're passionate about food, nutrition, education, and community impact, we'd love to hear from you!

To learn more about our open positions and see if one is the right fit for you, visit https://www.outofajamfw.org/careers.

Home | Out of a Jam, Feeding Fort Wayne Helping women and working aged teens in the Fort Wayne area with culinary education and live skills they can use for the rest of their lives. We know that once you're out of a jam, you can move forward successfully.

At Out of a Jam we’re committed to deepening relationships with other non-profits to make an even bigger difference. Meegan met today with at Wellspring Interfaith Social Services and Jama from Blessings in a Backpack to put their minds together to brainstorm new partnerships. The fight against food insecurity is real and these ladies are warriors. ✝️

What an incredible day celebrating Paula and Bernie Kaufman and the amazing journey that Out of a Jam has been on so far! ❤️

If you joined us, you had the opportunity to walk through the years, enjoy taste tests, and get a glimpse of where Out of a Jam is headed next with Meegan Siegwarth. It was such a joy to share our story, our mission, and our vision with all of you.

We also had some very special guests in attendance—be sure not to miss the Lucy sighting, arriving in style with her chef's hat! 👩‍🍳❤️

Thank you to everyone who came out and made it such a joyful day. We are deeply grateful for our volunteers, donors, partners, and prayer warriors who continue to support and encourage this work. Your generosity, dedication, and belief in our mission make all the difference.

Here's to celebrating how far we've come and looking forward to all that's ahead!



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Celebration of ‘Out of a Jam’ founding duo; continuing the nonprofit’s mission On Thursday night, founders Bernie and Paula Kaufman reflected on the last 10 years of the nonprofit, while continuing to celebrate its mission under new leadership.