Bread Break

Volunteer Spotlight: Mary Sweeter recently joined Bread Break as a volunteer and has quickly become an important part of our weekly operations. Each week, she helps deliver repackaged bread that might otherwise go to waste, ensuring it reaches community members who can benefit from it instead.

While the food that Bread Break rescues is often what we highlight, it is the people who truly make Bread Break special. Volunteers like Mary are the embodiment of our mission. Through her consistency, generosity, and willingness to serve, she helps transform surplus food into a valuable resource for our community. Mary, thank you for sharing your time and effort with Bread Break!

Recipient Spotlight: Messiah New Hope Lutheran Food Pantry

The Messiah New Hope Food Pantry is a special partner whose story is closely connected to our own. Bread Break’s roots began as a ministry of Messiah New Hope Lutheran Church, where a simple mission to reduce food waste and serve the community grew into what Bread Break is today. While Bread Break has since become its own nonprofit organization, we are proud to still operate out of the church and share space with the Messiah New Hope Food Pantry. That shared space is a reminder of how much can happen when people come together around a common purpose.

Throughout the month, the Messiah New Hope Food Pantry hosts multiple food distributions, providing food and support to individuals and families throughout our community. Their work is made possible through the dedication of volunteers, the generosity of donors, the support of our community partners, and the countless acts that happen behind the scenes every day. We are grateful to share both our history and our space with the Messiah New Hope Food Pantry and deeply appreciate everyone who contributes to making these distributions possible. Together, we continue the work of ensuring good food reaches people, not landfills. Thank you to everyone who helps make this mission a reality!

Small acts can make a big difference! Bread Break was excited to donate individually packaged Crumbl Cookies to Teacher Amanda Oines's students at Westside Christian School as they prepared cards to go with the treats to be delivered to the less privileged in our community. Seeing young people learn the importance of compassion, generosity, and serving others is always inspiring. Bread Break was happy to be able to play a part in spreading kindness and encouraging young people to be involved in their community! Thank you to the students and staff at Westside Christian School!

The Memorial Day holiday provided Bread Break the opportunity to help support Sioux Falls Mutual Aid in their monthly gathering through food donations. Through fresh grocery items from Pomegranate Market and prepared food such as Little Caesars, we got to help support SFMA's mission, prevent food waste, and gather together as neighbors supporting neighbors. Thank you to our partners, volunteers, and everyone who is working hard to support our community and encourage a stronger and more connected Sioux Falls!

This morning, some Bread Break members had the opportunity to attend the Rise & Shine Breakfast hosted by Volunteers of America. One message continued to stand out throughout the event: investing in the future means investing in children.

It is easy to think of “the future” as something far away, but for many children, the future is shaped by the everyday things happening right now like having stable support systems, caring adults, and reliable access to food.

In food recovery work, we see this connection every day. A box of recovered produce, packaged bakery items, or prepared meals may seem small on the surface, but those items can become part of a child’s lunch, an after school snack, or a family dinner that helps relieve stress at home for one more night.

When good food is redirected instead of wasted, it becomes something larger than a donation. It becomes part of building a healthier future for families in our community.

We are grateful for being able to attend the event and it is always a good reminder to us why this work matters and how many organizations, volunteers, and community members are helping create a stronger future together.

Volunteer Spotlight: A huge thank you to this amazing group of volunteers who spend their time packaging donated donuts into smaller portions for distribution to our receiving agencies! While this pictures shows some of our normal group of who we call the Donut Ladies, the number of individuals who have helped sort through donuts varies and unfortunately aren’t pictured, but it is always a joy to see this group and witness their hard work!

Their work may seem simple, but it makes a huge difference. By sorting and repackaging donations, they help make food safer, easier to distribute, and more accessible for the individuals and families served by our partner agencies.

Because of their dedication, more food can be shared efficiently throughout the community and less goes to waste. Their consistency, kindness, and willingness to jump in wherever needed helps keep our mission moving forward every week.

We are incredibly grateful for volunteers like these ladies who help turn food recovery into direct community impact. Thank you for all you do!

Recipient Spotlight: DAV (Disabled American Veterans)

DAV provides support, advocacy, and resources to veterans and their families, helping ensure those who served have access to the care and assistance they deserve. We are grateful to partner with organizations that work every day to strengthen our community through compassion and service.

Through food recovery efforts, we are proud to help provide additional food resources that can support veterans facing food insecurity and financial hardship. Partnerships like these help make sure good food reaches people who can truly use it instead of going to waste.

Thank you to DAV for the impact you make and for allowing us to be part of your mission!

Pomegranate Market continues to benefit the community by providing their surplus food items to Bread Break for distribution. Today, new volunteer Kent Rolfing helped rescue a record 570 pounds of produce, dairy, bread, and prepared food items for use at LLS Center for New Americans and Sermon on the Mount Mennonite Church! Both have food pantry distributions each week. Thank you Pomegranate Market and Kent!

The Farmer's Market is Open! Bread Break staff made their rounds at the Falls Park Farmer's Market this past Saturday to remind vendors we'll be gleaning produce and other items this summer. Executive Director Pam introduced Program Coordinator Emma to the Providing Partners at the market. We're looking forward to start collecting this coming Saturday, May 9th. Please email [email protected] if you'd like to help at the Farmer's Market!

Recipient Spotlight: Ava's House is a hospice care facility by Sanford that offers care to those with life limiting conditions. They have hospital grade furnishings but still work hard to make it feel like a home. There is a large kitchen for families to eat together as well as music, pet therapy, and church services. Ava's house is open to those young and old and aims to prioritize the wishes of the patient and the family, allowing them to spend precious time remaining concentrating on the things that are important to them. We are so thankful that places like Ava's house exist and are happy that we are able to help them. Thank you, Ava's house!