Food Outreach

Renee Johnson, a third-generation United States Air Force veteran and two-time Food Outreach client.

Food Outreach is the only St. Louis-area organization providing free nutritional support to individuals of all ages facing food insecurity while living with HIV or cancer. Founded in 1988, we now provide healthy meals, dietetic counseling, and education to nearly 2,000 people annually.

Food Outreach's comprehensive and free services include our Medically Tailored Meals, groceries, and fresh produce program designed by our Chef and Registered Dietitians, individualized dietetic counseling, nutrition classes, and meal home delivery to homebound clients. Our programs provide each client with two nutritious meals per day (30 meals/biweekly; 60 meals/monthly) throughout enrollment, combined with nutrition counseling and monitoring by our registered dietitians. In 2023, Food Outreach served 564,450 meals to 1,953 clients living within 164 Missouri and Illinois zip codes. We also welcomed 592 new clients--the largest in agency history.

 “At Food Outreach, I felt like I had a sense of support. I didn’t have very much support when I was going through my cancer treatment. My spouse at that time was filing for divorce. All of my parents and grandparents and godparents are gone. And I was facing this pretty much by myself. Food Outreach was the one place that I always looked forward to coming to because that was really the only basis of support that I had. I’m sitting in the infusion room by myself, and it was nice to know that I was getting ready to go to Food Outreach because that’s where I got my sense of community and support. Food Outreach served me in that way—it was so much more than just the food.” Renee Johnson, a third-generation United States Air Force veteran and two-time Food Outreach client.