Second Helpings

There's a lot of heart behind what we do at Second Helpings — and Hunger Relief Chef Maggie is a perfect example of it. In this video, Maggie walks us through a cheesy chicken pasta dish she's preparing in one of our commercial tilt skillets. One batch. One chef. 500 meals headed to community partner agencies across Central Indiana. The scale of what our kitchen team accomplishes every single day is remarkable — and it starts with talented, passionate people like Maggie showing up and doing the work. 💚 #SecondHelpings #HungerRelief #MeetTheTeam #CommunityImpact #Indianapolis #NonprofitLeadership

$18,000,000. That's what Second Helpings saved our more than 200 community partners in food costs in a single year. The need across Central Indiana is real, it's growing, and it touches every corner of our community — shelters, schools, recovery programs, senior centers, children's hospitals, and more. When we handle the food, our partners can pour every resource into what they do best. That's not just hunger relief. That's a force multiplier for the entire Central Indiana nonprofit ecosystem. This is why the work matters. This is why it doesn't stop. #SecondHelpings #CommunityImpact #NonprofitLeadership #Indianapolis #HungerRelief #LessWasteMoreImpact

We're celebrating a milestone today — and the remarkable person behind it. Kim Kiser, our Development Coordinator, is marking her 20th anniversary with Second Helpings this week. Kim's path here is one worth sharing. She started as a volunteer. Her commitment to the mission led her to our Hunger Relief kitchen, where she spent eight and a half years preparing meals for Central Indiana's most vulnerable neighbors. That deep, hands-on understanding of the work eventually brought her to our development team — where she now helps build the relationships and resources that make all of it possible. Twenty years. Three roles. One unwavering commitment to fighting hunger. Kim's story is a powerful example of what happens when people find work that genuinely matters to them — and organizations are lucky enough to grow alongside them. Congratulations, Kim. We couldn't be more proud to have you on our team. 💚 #SecondHelpings #StaffSpotlight #EmployeeAppreciation #20Years #NonprofitLeadership #Indianapolis #HungerRelief

The Indy 500 is one of the greatest spectacles in sports. It's also an opportunity. Last Sunday, while the race unfolded at the Brickyard, our food rescue team was on the ground collecting donated food from the track. Back at our hunger relief kitchen, volunteers are now converting that food into nutritious meals for our 200+ community partner agencies across Central Indiana. This is what it looks like to find opportunity in every corner of our community. Every event. Every donation. Every pound of food rescued is a meal that wouldn't have existed otherwise. #SecondHelpings #Indy500 #FoodRescue #CommunityImpact #Indianapolis #HungerRelief

Looking for a meaningful experience for your team, board, or professional group? A tour of our facility is one of the most impactful hours you can spend together in Indianapolis. We'll show you how we rescue food that would otherwise be wasted, transform it into thousands of meals daily, and deliver it free of charge to nonprofits across Central Indiana — while simultaneously training adults for careers in the culinary industry. It's a rare chance to see mission-driven operations up close. Groups consistently leave with a new perspective on what's possible when an organization attacks a problem from every angle. Schedule your group's tour here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eSBijX4D

Flexibility is part of how we serve. Not all of our 200+ partner organizations have the capacity to reheat hot meals — so we meet them where they are. Today our kitchen team assembled fresh salad meals: nutritious, ready-to-serve, and tailored to what our partners can realistically distribute. It's a small operational detail that makes a big difference for the people we all serve together.

Our kitchen cooks 1,500 lbs. of pasta every week. Here's how you can help keep that going. One in seven people in Central Indiana don't have enough to eat. At Second Helpings, we're fighting that statistic every day — 5,954 meals at a time. The Great Pasta Push runs June 4–18, and we need Central Indiana's businesses, teams, and community leaders to join us. Three ways to make an impact: 📦 Drop a box of pasta at any Marion County Kroger location, June 4–18 💰 Give online — thanks to two generous donors, every dollar is matched up to $10,000 🏆 Host a drive at your office or organization — the top collector and top fundraiser each take home a Golden Colander (the most prestigious pasta-related honor in Central Indiana) Every box goes straight into our kitchen. Every dollar goes straight to work. And right now, your impact is doubled. Let's fix hunger one box at a time. 🍝 👉 secondhelpings.org/pasta #SecondHelpings #GreatPastaPush #FightHunger #CentralIndiana #Indianapolis #FoodRescue #CommunityImpact #GivingBack #NonprofitLeadership

Our April impact numbers are in — and they reflect what happens when food rescue, community partnership, and dedicated volunteers work in concert. In 22 operating days, we: ✅ Rescued 416,803 lbs. of food ✅ Distributed 130,996 meals (nearly 6,000/day) ✅ Logged 4,376 volunteer hours ✅ Redirected 320,293 lbs. of food to our partners Over the last 12 months, we've now rescued nearly 4.9 million pounds of food and distributed over 1.39 million meals. Less waste. Less hunger. More opportunity. That's what partnership makes possible — thank you to every donor, food donor, and volunteer who powers this work.

Behind every meal we serve is a kitchen that never really stops. Between volunteer shifts, our team cleans and resets the entire space — and we caught a rare quiet moment before the next group arrived. These stainless counters and stacked sheet pans are about to get very busy again. We prepare more than 5,500 meals a day here for neighbors across Central Indiana. None of it happens without the volunteers, staff, and donors who keep this kitchen moving. If your organization is looking for a meaningful volunteer opportunity, we'd love to have your team. Reach out to us at secondhelpings.org. #Indianapolis #nonprofit #volunteer

This June 4-18th, we're doing something simple with a big impact. 1 in 7 people in Central Indiana face food insecurity. Our kitchen prepares more than 5,000 meals a day to help change that — but we need community support to keep those pots full. That's why we've launched the Gr8 Pasta Push, a two-week campaign of pasta drives and collecting pasta donations at Marion County Kroger locations. Every box donated goes directly into meals for neighbors at shelters, senior centers, after-school programs, and more. We're also thrilled to share that two generous anonymous donors have committed to matching monetary donations dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000. There's nowhere else your donation goes further in Central Indiana. Drop a box. Make a match. Feed a neighbor. And if your organization wants to go further — host a drive. We'll provide everything you need to make it a success: secondhelpings.org/pasta Donate here: https://lnkd.in/eVPR3Kqd