The Ceres Community Project

“The form 990 is reviewed and approved by the finance committee and distributed to the board of directors prior to filing.”

“The organization reviews all compensation of officers and employees annually and requests disclosure of any possible conflict of interest of board members, officers and employees in order to enforce compliance with this policy.”

“The compensation of the executive director was compared to a study of non profit salaries for similar sized organizations in the san francisco bay area.”

“The compensation of other employees were compared to a study of non profit salaries for similar sized organizations in the san francisco bay area.”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements available to the public upon request in writing or in person.”

“Ceres Community Project's mission is to improve health for people, communities and the planet through love, healing meals and empowering the next generation. We accomplish this work through the following program areas: . Community Health Model: o Client Meal Program - Providing medically tailored meals, groceries and produce "prescriptions" to primarily low-income people who are struggling with serious and chronic health conditions and their families. This program includes nutrition education. o Youth Development & Garden Program - Engaging 14-19 year old youth as volunteers and paid interns growing food and preparing 100% organic meals for our clients. Youth learn about growing, and eating healthy food, develop job and leadership skills, and experience their value and belonging as Contributing members of the community. o Engaging adult volunteers to strength social connections and connect people to their purpose and value. . Affiliate Partner Program - Ceres trains communities across the US and in Denmark to replicate our integrated model for community health and supports Affiliate Partners with ongoing support. . Policy & System Change - Through active participation in a dozen local, state and federal coalitions with advance system and policy change to improve access to healthy food, integrate food as a covered benefit in health care, and support organic and regenerative food systems. 2024 Highlights: On a positive note, we opened the Ceres Garden at Live Oak Farm in Petaluma with the hiring of Noah Wolf-Prusan in March. We are still working to grow youth engagement, but nearly 100 people volunteered in the garden this year. Other Highlights: . Meal Program - We provided 226,432 meals - more than ever before - for 1,489 clients along with additional family members. . We launched a new menu for people living with chronic kidney disease, expanding the types of clients we can serve. . We piloted delivery to Medi-Cal members in Solano and Napa counties, expanding our geographic coverage; financial analysis demonstrated a strong contribution to overhead and we will continue building out referrals in these two counties. . Youth Program - 287 young people from 55 different schools participated in 11,300 hours of service and learning at Ceres; this number is down from 2023 because of the closure of our Santa Rosa kitchen and garden in February. The organization we leased space from filed for bankruptcy. . Youth Internships o We completed cohort two of the Healthy Eating Educator Internship. 11 interns taught 75 classes during the year, reaching 678 children and youth with information about eating fruits and vegetables. Two of the interns also taught seven classes at Sonoma County library branches during the summer, reaching another 52 youth. o We launched the first cohort of the Farm to Community Internship. Eight interns were supported with 1,396 hours of learning about growing healthy food and nutrition and public speaking. The interns provided 12 "farm stands" at Santa Rosa Community Health, distributing 2,883 pounds of organic produce to 861 patients of the health center - most of them Latinx and Spanish speaking. . Organic Purchasing - We supported 111 farms, ranches and dairies with more than $600,000 in organic purchasing with 66% of products coming from within 250 miles. . We launched the Ceres Community Project Garden at Live Oak Farm Petaluma in March and more than 100 people participated in shifts during the year. . Our two gardens produced 12,526 pounds of organic produce valued at $27,160 along with 2,933 bouquets of flowers for our clients. . 708 adult volunteers contributed more than 31,000 hours of volunteer service, the equivalent of 15 full-time staff members. . Educational messages about food and health reached 989 people through in-person and virtual classes; 20,925 through social and digital messaging; and 7 million through press coverage. We have 47,000 unique web visitors. . Center - We completed financing for”