On March 23, 2010 the Junior Advisory Board of St. Vincent Meals on Wheels launched its first initiative – Cart for a Cause— the country’s first philanthropic food-truck serving gourmet meals crafted by the elite chefs of the Los Angeles. The truck traveled around Los Angeles every Tuesday offering $10 meals with all proceeds benefitting St. Vincent Meals on Wheels’ in its mission to serve hot, nutritious meals to homebound seniors.

The Cart for a Cause food truck retired from regular service in November of 2011. Through the efforts of many, this truck was able to feed 80,000 meals to our homebound seniors most at-risk for hunger.

The success of this effort was followed quickly by the the second initiative of the Junior Advisory Board, the unique Cart for a Cause cookbook highlighting some of the special recipes that were served on board the food truck. The cookbook includes recipes from nearly 40 gourmet hot spots with easy-to-follow instructions and tips from the chefs.

Each of the notable chefs that prepared lunch on the Cart for a Cause food truck gave the gift of their time and compassion to help feed more of our neighbors in need. Thank you to all of our participating chefs.

The Junior Advisory Board wasted no time in created the next round of initiatives. This time, menu badging was the order of the day. Reengaging with chefs partners, the Board enlisted premier restaurants to designate one item on their menus to benefit St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, one dollar at a time. To date, this bading system has raised over $14,000 dollars.