SAY Bankruptcy & Impact on Ceres 

Dated 2.29.24

I’m writing to share some important news about our Santa Rosa kitchen and garden at the Dream Center. 

We were involved from the earliest stages of the Dream Center project, designed and built out the kitchen that we use, and have rented these spaces from Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) for eight years.  

As you may be aware, this nonprofit announced in January that they were in dire financial circumstances. Two weeks ago, a group of major donors came forward with the amount of money SAY leaders said they needed to continue operations. Despite this, SAY’s board announced Monday that they would be shutting down. Our repeated requests for information this week went unanswered, and we heard late yesterday afternoon from a community leader that doors to the building would be locked this Friday morning pursuant to SAY’s filing of Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  

We rallied immediately late yesterday to make a plan. Today, our staff, volunteers, and partners from Myers Restaurant supply and GMH Builders are working on moving this week’s client meals, food supplies and equipment from The Dream Center to our other kitchens and to storage.  

Despite this sudden change, our clients will continue to receive the medically tailored meal deliveries they depend on. Every scheduled delivery will be going out as usual this week and into the future. I’m grateful to our volunteers, staff, and community partners who are rallying to help us make the immediate move and to continue uninterrupted service to those who depend on us. 

We will be working on a plan to consolidate all existing clients into our Novato and Sebastopol kitchens. And several community partners have already reached out with offers of some kitchen space/time. None of this will be without challenges, stress on our team and most likely added expenses.  

We have experience with responding to emergency situations and disasters, and we feel confident in our ability to face this challenge together. At the outset of the COVID pandemic, we consolidated into one kitchen in Sonoma County to help us respond to the spike in demand for services. We maintain an inventory of frozen prepared meals so that we can be nimble and flexible in an emergency situation.  

We will rely on these experiences and on our emergency response plans as we assess our options and determine our next steps.  

 The potential instability of leased sites was a primary driver in our decision to build a large new regional home for Ceres – The Center for Food, Youth & Community – and that solution is now needed more than ever. We have a strong business plan in place for this new site, including a seven-year budget that accounts for building maintenance and a gradual increase in services over time as we sustainably grow the funding to support it. 

We’ve raised nearly 70% of the funds we need to build The Center and will break ground this fall. Please consider supporting this vital new home for Ceres if you have not done so already.  

Please stay tuned for our next update on our plans, and ways you can support. Thank you for being a part of our caring community.  

Warmly, 

Cathryn Couch 
CEO & Founder