2411 Pulgas Ave., East Palo Alto, CA 94303 ~ (650) 323-7781 ~
Open Monday, Thursday & Friday 10 am-12 pm  & 2:30 pm-4:30 pm
Wednesday 10 am - 12:30 pm & 2:30 pm-6:00 pm and every 3rd Saturday 11 am - 1 pm
​EHP’s mission is to provide compassionate, dignified and practical assistance to families and individuals experiencing economic and personal hardship.  We offer material help, support services, and advocacy for our neighbors in need, in a challenging and rapidly changing environment.

EHP serves working families, seniors, people with limited incomes and those who have both emergency and on-going needs in East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and surrounding communities.
​​Read about Ecumenical Hunger Program on Charity Navigator, America's largest and most-utilized independent evaluator of charities, and add us to your charities! ​

​​EHP is a platinum level GuideStar Exchange participant, demonstrating its commitment to transparency. Write a review about us!​

More Than Food ...

Thank You to Norwest Venture Partners!

EHP's Friends at Norwest Venture Partners held a back-to-school drive and collected over 400 pairs of socks and over $1800 in gift cards for families in need in the local community.  Thank you Norwest Venture Partners!!! 

Youth in Philanthropy - Thank You Brownie Troop 62106!

"We are from Girl Scout Troop 62016.  We are a Brownie troop of second grade students, and we were learning about philanthropy.  We attend the Bowman School in Palo Alto and we initiated an effort to collect donated goods from other families at the school.  We donated our time helping to organize and restock shelves in the pantry.  As we considered a variety of projects and organizations we could help, we watched the videos EHP posted on their website and reflected on how we can help others in our community through our efforts.  Thank you for providing our troop with a wonderful experience to work together, to make a small difference for others, and to learn about our community!"

Murals on a Mission

​Over the years as apart of the National Charity League - Stanford Hills Chapter, all of us have had amazing experiences helping different philanthropies through our service work. Going into our senior year, we had the opportunity to choose one organization that we felt we could make a lasting impression on through our Senior Project. After a period of research and decision making, we all chose the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto, and to be honest, it was an easy decision for everyone. All of us had fond memories working with EHP over the years through assisting with the Food Pantry and Community Closet, helping kids with back-to-school supplies, supporting events such as Fun Fridays during the summer, and organizing the annual Blockfest and Christmas party celebrations. We enjoyed watching the devoted EHP staff bring joy and support to the local community and we appreciated the impact we were able to make with the children and families in the area. 
 
After speaking with the EHP staff in the spring of 2017 about helping to promote the program's message to its patrons, we came up with the idea to visually represent EHP's mission and add some life to the facility. A couple of girls in our class [Francesca Fallow and Ella Milliken] designed murals that would help illustrate EHP's bond and NCL's commitment to the local community. One, which sits next to the Food Pantry entrance, features paintings of all of the nutritious food that EHP offers, alongside the program's motto "EHP Cares" and painted handprints from community members. We believe this represents the community coming together over a common goal of healthy eating and helping each other strive towards this with EHP's continuous aide. The second mural we designed highlights the diverse community that EHP supports, including seniors, single mothers, children, the disabled, and families of all sizes and from all ethnic backgrounds. This 14-foot mural is beautiful with colorful California poppies representing everyone's home and a bright sky/sun with silhouettes of people holding hands in unity, which signifies the community moving together towards a brighter future. Our senior class loved painting these murals and we hope that they bring the same amount of joy to the EHP families as they did to us while we created them. 
 
We were extremely fortunate to have worked with a fantastic team from Habitat for Humanity, who seamlessly took on the job of mounting the murals to the building. We can't thank them enough: John Schniedwind, Dale Real, Keith Radher, Bill Olsen, and Dave Mans. Even though we're all graduating from high school now and our time at the National Charity League has come to end, we're proud that the murals will be our class legacy to reinforce all the great work that is done through NCL with EHP. We hope that these bright murals will bring hope and joy to the members of the community and to let everyone know that they are always supported by the amazing program, EHP. 
Left to right:  Francesca Fallow, Eden Vitakis, Ella Milliken, Kate Kennedy
Left to right: Ella Milliken, Kate Kennedy, Francesca Fallow, Eden Vitakis

Stone Soup:  Do You Care?  Will You Share?
​Stone Soup: Do You Care? Will You Share, a children’s theater piece adapted and directed by Danee Conley, was performed at Stanford University the weekend of February 1st. Based on the book with the same name by Heather Forest, the play adaptation follows a young child as they imagine a bedtime story told by their grandmother – the story of two travelers who come upon a village looking for the kindness of strangers only to be met with callousness and disregard. Through the power of imagination, childhood innocence, compassion, and a magical ingredient, the travelers bring the town together to teach a lesson in the art of sharing. Considering the homelessness and poverty epidemic in the Bay Area, Danee brought together a group of actors to present a piece that would build community and confidence, in the hopes that it would emanate out into surrounding communities. To immerse people in that community building, Danee and the cast put out a call to “Bring what you’ve got and put it in the pot!” prompting the audience to contribute food donations during the show. As a result, the three nights generated 78 pounds of non-perishable goods to be donated to the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto. Without community organizations such as theirs, shows like Stone Soup wouldn’t be possible and for that, Danee and the cast will be forever grateful! They hope to continue this growing relationship in the years to come.

Volunteer Needs

The holidays are over, but EHP is providing community assistance
all year long!!!  Please consider spending your morning or afternoon helping our neighbors in need.

​We especially need volunteers in our Community Closet:
​
Tuesday afternoons (1:30 - 4:30 pm) and Wednesdays (9:30 am - 12 noon, 1:30 - 4:30 pm).
​
Help with data entry input is also needed.
We appreciate your support but due to space limitations we are only able to accept the below items if they are in GOOD condition and in working order.

  • Appliances must be less than 8 years old; built-in items must be less than 5 years old (we will only take built-in items if a specific request has been made).
  • Beds (no thin mattresses, must be new or like new).
  • Books (Children only, must be new or gently used)
  • Clothing (new or like-new only)
  • Dishes, glasses & cups, silverware (sets only).
  • Electronics (must be less than 8 years old), computers (less than 4 years old).
  • Miscellaneous Items: Armoires, Bookcases, Building Supplies, China Cabinets, Entertainment Centers, Exercise Equipment, Hospital Beds, Office Furniture (only if someone has made a specific request).
  • Particle Board Furniture (new only).
  • Sofa’s (no floral or striped – unless modern, must be new or like-new)
  • We can only take a minimal number of items such as home décor, office supplies, toys, etc.
 
We truly appreciate your continued generosity and support of EHP.  Your cooperation and understanding of EHP’s new donation guidelines will allow for a more efficient flow of resource distribution to our families.  We will be able to maximize space availability while limiting waste and unnecessary staff/volunteer hours spent on shifting/sorting undistributed donation items.

There may be times when we will not be able to accept your donation due to limited space in our warehouse.  When this occurs, you will be referred to another local non-profit that will accept your donation.
​
Thanks for working with us to fulfill our goal: to provide the best possible resources to our Neighbors-in-need while maintaining the dignity of those that we serve.
​
Thank you!​

​Weekend hours

3rd Saturdays
Excluding holiday weekends
Food Service
11 am-1 pm

*We will be accepting donations
during this time.

Attention In-kind Donors!

Drop off donation hours have changed. 

 For non-food items
  Monday – Friday 
1 pm - 4 pm, except on holidays

For food donations
 Monday - Friday  
10 am - 12 pm / 2 pm - 4 pm

These are the preferred drop off times due to 
limited parking during client service hours.  
​
We appreciate your help in scheduling drop-offs during the above scheduled times.
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