The Les Dames d’Escoffier International San Diego Chapter is an philanthropic organization of women leaders in the fields of food, beverage, and hospitality. Our membership, composed of over 2,300 members in 45 chapters currently in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Mexico, is highly diversified and reflects the multifaceted fields of contemporary gastronomy and hospitality. I want to invite you to help us make a difference and join our food drive initiative. Please visit our websites: www.ldeisd.org

Over 35 million Americans live in households that struggle with food and nutrition insecurity, and in San Diego alone, out of 3.2 million residents, 450,000 people face food scarcity every day; this is over 31% of the population in our city.  The LDEI SD Board has identified the tremendous need, and we decided to initiate a quarterly food drive that will impact San Diego the entire year and not just during the holidays.

Our chapter has decided to join together with our friends, family, and neighbors and create what we call The Blue Bag Food Drive “Recipes for Food,” what is this? We will ask you for one bag filled with non-perishable groceries four times in the next 11 months, and in return, we will give you 22 recipes from our members; at the end of the 11 months, you will be able to collect 88 recipes from our fantastic members.  We will also share our calendar of events that are open to the public, and we hope to see you there.  

Our mission as a chapter is focused on mentoring, volunteering, and scholarships. However, we want to make a difference in our county by donating 220 + bags of non-perishable groceries each quarter to the following locations: Ohr Shalom Synagogue, Community Resource Center in the city of Escondido, Food Distribution Center, and Lutheran Church foodbank of Poway. 

The first collection will take place on January 15, with the delivery to the recipient of our donation on January 28, 2022. – Ohr Shalom Synagogue

The second collection will take place on April 11, with the delivery to the recipient of our donation on April 22, 2022 – Community Resource Center in the city of Escondido

The third collection will take place on July 18, with the delivery to the recipient of our donation on July 29, 2022 – Food Distribution Center

The fourth collection will take place on October 3, with the delivery to the recipient of our donation on October 14, 2022 – Lutheran Church foodbank of Poway