Al and Friends, Feed the homeless

Help us make a difference?
Al Siekert looked around and was bothered by what he saw. He was witnessing more and more of this every day. An exponential increase of homeless and hungry people at the intersections with a sign that reads “Anything will help’.  Shopping carts heaped high with every possession this displaced person has and homeless men and women asking for spare change at the Quik Stop. “There seems to be more and more people having a hard time just trying to get through the day. Many of these folks probably haven’t had a wholesome healthy meal in days.” That’s when it hit him. He wasn’t sure how to go about it, but he had a vision.  If he could just provide a nutritious meal to help these folks get a leg up for the rest of their week’s sojourn he would be happy with that.   Al  came up with the idea of serving a balanced, nutritious, hot meal every Sunday breakfast on the beach for anyone who is hungry. Al has mantra that says “You don’t have to be homeless to be hungry”. He gathered a couple of friends and started his dream of helping the homeless and the hungry by preparing meals at his home to take to people in need. That only lasted a short period of time as his wife put her foot down and told him that if he was really going through with this, he would need to find a kitchen other than their home.  He scoured his personal contacts as well as his life-long peninsula connections and finally found a home for his new found passion within the kitchen of Tilly Gorts restaurant in New Monterey.

Since then Tilly Gorts has closed down and Al and Friends have moved their loving operation to Chautauqua Hall in Pacific Grove.

 Since the inception of Al’s mission to serve a hot meal on Sunday morning, he and his friends have served over 10,000 nutritious meals and have never missed a Sunday serving since the inception of Al and Friends