Sacramento’s Loaves & Fishes has been a lifesaver for the hungry and homeless for nearly a quarter of a century.

As steady as a heartbeat, lines of people, many with serious mental health problems, continue to arrive daily at the charity’s complex, just north of downtown Sacramento. Since its founding in 1983, Loaves & Fishes has served five million free meals.

Mercy Sister Libby Fernandez, executive director of Loaves & Fishes, believes now is the time to plan for the future.

“There are people to be fed, so we need to do it well,” she said.

To celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, the agency has made a wish list, the “Loaves & Fishes 25th Anniversary Fund,” to rebuild facilities.

Loaves & Fishes’ goal is to centralize and consolidate its buildings into a one-block triangle.

Topping the fund’s wish list is renovation of existing buildings housing Mustard Seed School for homeless children, and Maryhouse, a day hospitality center for homeless women and children, and building a new dining room warehouse to be located onsite.

Loaves & Fishes plans to terminate their lease on the facility that currently houses the dining room, a savings of $65,000 annually.

Other projects include funding for a new onsite toilet facility to accommodate daily sanitation needs and underwriting for an emergency overnight shelter for severely traumatized homeless women.

“Loaves & Fishes is a place where people can use restrooms without being harassed, sleep on a bench without being told to move on, and a place where women unable to succeed in other shelters have their own space, sacred and safe,” Sister Fernandez said in an interview. “This is their home and we need to renovate it.”

Long-range plans include building 60 units of cottage housing for disabled homeless on pre-developed land located in the Sacramento area and installing solar energy at the Loaves & Fishes complex.

The total cost of the projects is estimated at $2.86 million.

Loaves & Fishes officials hope to have approval to build the new warehouse by Jan. 1 of next year.

The charity is participating in a series of community briefings on social services in the Richards Boulevard area in which the city of Sacramento is presenting a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness. A joint city and Sacramento County plan focuses on housing as a priority.

During the second of three meetings outlining current and future social services projects, Sister Fernandez discussed Loaves & Fishes’ 25th Anniversary Fund.

Residents living near Richards Boulevard voiced concern over what they view as concentrating social services in the area.

Patty Kleinknecht, executive director of the River District Association, was among those attending the meeting.

Kleinknecht said businesses in the Richards Boulevard area are concerned about being “immensely impacted” by a homeless population that requires them to spend extra funds to clean up sidewalks and deal with customers upset with issues like “having to step over people” to shop.

“They feel it’s time for other parts of the community in the region to do their part as well,” Kleinknecht said during a telephone interview with The Herald.

She added that in her view Loaves & Fishes needs to do further community outreach detailing its rebuilding project.

With regard to neighborhood concerns about the charity’s rebuilding project, Sister Fernandez said “the reality is we’re not expanding, we’re trying to use our property better.”

While the fund-raising effort is just under way, Loaves & Fishes has received its first major pledge of $100,000 from the Sisters of Mercy of the Auburn regional community.

Sister Fernandez said the agency is seeking one-time donations, “whether its $1 or the miracle of loaves and fishes.”

For more information on the Loaves & Fishes 25th Anniversary Fund, call (916) 446-0874 or visit the Web site: www.sacloaves.org.

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