Local Nonprofit Profile: Kinship Community Food Center
Kinship Community Food Center
Kinship Community Food Center engages volunteers and neighborhood residents to end hunger, isolation and poverty. Its innovative programs improve food security and wellness, foster belonging and community engagement, and empower stability and economic prosperity in the city of Milwaukee. Kinship envisions a community where all are nourished, all belong, and all prosper.
Programs include a free food market, urban farm, collaborative meals and wellness programs, crisis assistance and mentoring, training and education programs, and employment readiness through Kinship Café and Catering. Founded in 1979 and formerly known as the Riverwest Food Pantry, Kinship serves five zip codes in the city of Milwaukee.
Our Story
Our roots reach back to the late 1970s, when the East Side Housing Action Committee and St. Casimir Parish opened a food distribution site in Riverwest. That effort grew into the Riverwest Food Pantry, which became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2013. In 2022 we changed our name to Kinship Community Food Center, reflecting our belief that all transformation starts with relationships.
Our Impact
In 2025, Kinship served 19,208 people and distributed 466,000 pounds of food in Milwaukee. But the real impact cannot be captured by numbers alone. At Kinship, people of all backgrounds gather around food until the lines blur between those who came to give and those who came to receive. Feeding hunger becomes a catalyst for the well-being of our whole community.
Our Programs
All of our programs are grounded in at least one of our three core pillars: Nourish, Belong, and Prosper.
We offer a free fresh food market with health education and cooking demonstrations. We grow thousands of pounds of organic, local produce at our urban hoop house farm. During collaborative meals we gather a diverse group around a common table. Wellness programming provides activities across eight dimensions of wellness (physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, vocational, financial, and environmental). We provide educational training to volunteers and spiritual formation to those young adults that choose to join us as mission interns. We accompany people in crisis and mentor them towards longer-term stability. Our unique workforce development program offers paid work experience and a path to healing and economic mobility.
Get Involved
Everyone gives. Everyone receives. No one is so poor that they have nothing to give. No one is so rich that they have nothing to receive. Whether you give financially, volunteer your time at our Urban Farm or Food Center, or simply show up to be present in community with others, you become part of a community of generosity.
Contact
Kinship Community Food Center
Learn how to get involved at www.kinshipmke.org