We’ve been celebrating significant events this month (10 years of OTB Super Kitchens). We’re keeping the festivities going as today marks the fourth birthday of our Mexicali Super Kitchen! On February 15, 2014 the doors of our fifth kitchen opened with a celebration that was attended by many in the community including pastors and government officials. Many of these pastors have experienced that Outside the Bowl meals are a tool for ministry!

The first month of operations the kitchen was making 200 meals a day. By the fourth month, production had increased to 800 meals and soared to over 1,000 meals a day just six months after opening. On average, 1,450 meals are cooked Monday-Friday. These meals go out to 44 ministry partners who are sharing the love of Jesus one bowl at a time.

These meals are transforming children’s diets and in turn, their lives. We recently received a handful of stories from kids who eat Outside the Bowl meals at two of our feeding partners, Comedor Ejido Sinaloa and Comedor Villas de la Republica. Favorite dishes ranged from pozole, to rice and beans, and chicken and vegetable soup which is an incredible improvement from bags of chips and soda, the “meal” they often grabbed on their way home from school. We love hearing that these meals are keeping the kids healthy. Many share that they no longer have stomach aches, have more energy to be active, and have longer attention spans at school. What a reminder that proper nutrition is so important! Even more exciting is that these feeding locations offer a safe place for children to hang out before or after school, which is also a favorite thing to many of them.        

It is because of our dedicated team that the Mexicali Super Kitchen running like a well-oiled machine. Ceci, Maggie, Maria Luisa, and Tere (pictured above with Israel) have been with OTB Mexicali since the beginning. They have even trained staff from other locations including our Haiti, South Africa, and the Jalisco kitchen!

We’re proud of the work that they do and the steady, consistent service the OTB Mexicali Super Kitchen provides to their community. Congrats on four amazing years!

The video on our homepage was taken at our Mexicali Super Kitchen!