Sisters’ Camelot is a collectively-run nonprofit founded in 1997 that is focused on food justice, waste reduction, sustainable living, community building, and youth education. We rescue food that would otherwise be wasted and share free organic groceries and free organic meals with our community.

Sisters’ Camelot serves our community through two primary programs. We distribute approximately 6,000-8,000 pounds per week of primarily organic groceries in the Twin Cities. We vary distribution locations to serve people where they are, particularly in food deserts. We partner with a wide variety of community organizations that host food distributions and allow us to reach their unique populations. These have included low-income housing, senior housing, substance abuse programs, arts organizations, tribal/indigenous organizations, cultural centers, churches, and more. During the COVID-19 crisis, we have been working with volunteer bike couriers to deliver free groceries to those who are at higher risk of going out during a pandemic, such as the elderly and immunocompromised. We also supply bulk food to a number of nonprofit community kitchens cooking meals for the unhoused, the elderly, and others who are experiencing greater need during the pandemic, as well as local food shelves.

Secondly, we serve free healthy prepared food from a vintage bus that has been converted to a licensed commercial kitchen. As with our grocery distributions, the mobile nature of our operations means that we can reach varied populations and spread the joy of healthy organic food to different neighborhoods. Our kitchen bus allows us to feed people, to nourish the relationships that come through preparing and eating food together, and to impart the value of this to the next generation though our Young Chefs program, which has been put on pause due to COVID-19 but which we hope to resume when it is safe to do so. Our bus has a longstanding presence at various community events such as May Day and the Barebones Halloween Extravaganza. Since public gatherings have been limited due to the pandemic, we shifted to feeding people at the George Floyd memorial site at 38th and Chicago as well as unhoused people living in local encampments.

The food we distribute and cook is rescued from the waste stream. Any produce that is too damaged to use is delivered to be composted in local community gardens, and we recycle the pallets and cardboard used to package the food. Thus our programs both prevent massive amounts of food waste and provide healthy, nutritious food for people in our community who might not otherwise be able to obtain it.

Along with delivering groceries to those who are at higher risk of leaving home, we also supply information in Spanish and English and work with community organizers to make sure undocumented folks know we will share freely regardless of their legal status. This is especially important during the pandemic, since undocumented immigrants have been greatly affected but do not qualify for unemployment, stimulus checks, or other forms of aid.

Seedlings funding would assist our work to bring free organic food to our community. We are 100% volunteer-run, so our overhead is low, but we have unavoidable expenses necessary to acquire and distribute food, such as gas and truck maintenance, insurance, propane and supplies for the kitchen bus, etc. We hope for your support to nourish our neighbors.