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The mission of the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank "is to feed the hungry in Baton Rouge and the surrounding parishes by providing food and educational outreach through faith-based and other community partners."

The community can help by giving funds, hosting a food drive, and volunteering.

Contact information:
225-359-9940

More information about getting involved and getting help can be found on the website linked below.

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Our mission is to feed the hungry in Baton Rouge and the surrounding parishes by providing food and educational outreach through faith-based and other community partners. With community support, we have served the hungry in our 11 parish service area for more than 30 years.
What We Do
How can you help us achieve this goal?

Give Funds Give Food Volunteer

Our Impact

Due to the continuous support from our generous donors and dedicated volunteers - we are able to serve the community in a way that truly makes an impact in the lives of so many. We could not do it without your help.

Meals distributed in 2019

Total Volunteer Hours in 2019

More About Our Impact

Learn More

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

More people are facing hunger. Make sure your neighbors know they are not alone.
Learn More

Volunteers needed as new requests for food assistance rise
Learn more

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Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank | BR Food Bank | Food Pantries

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Our mission is to feed the hungry in Baton Rouge and the surrounding parishes by providing food and educational outreach through faith-based and other community partners. With community support, we have served the hungry in our 11 parish service area for more than 30 years.

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"The Shepherd's Market is a client-choice food pantry serving the hungry and needy in south Baton Rouge."

The community can help by giving funds, volunteering time, and donating food.

Contact information:
shepherdsmarket@gmail.com
225-337-1306

More information about the services at The Shepherd's Market can be found at the website linked below.

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Modified Operations

The Shepherd's Market will serve drive-thru food boxes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 to 10 a.m. unless it becomes apparent that it isn't safe due to COVID-19 concerns. (No Monday shift)

We are limiting volunteers to no more than eight (8) per day, so volunteers should contact Theresa Sandifer (225-337-1306 or shepherdsmarket@gmail.com) before showing up.

We will have regular Food Bank deliveries, including one on Friday March 27 at 8 a.m., and volunteers will be needed for stocking.

Food Program for Children

Thank You!

Thank you to our volunteers, donors, and supporters of The Shepherd's Market who helped on Monday March 16. You were so flexible and helpful as we modified how we served our neighbors in the Shepherd's Market on Monday. The drive-thru worked well, but we can't wait to be back inside the market soon. We will let you know as soon we are able to open the food pantry again.

The Shepherd's Market is a client-choice food pantry serving the hungry and needy in south Baton Rouge.

The pantry is open every Monday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and every Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Doors to the pantry open one hour prior to each shift.

We have been operating for more than eight years. In that time we've opened more than 2,700 unduplicated files, each representing a different family. We serve 380 families per month and distribute 23,000 pounds of food per month.

The Shepherd's Market serves 35 families per day, or 400 families per month. Our focus area includes zip codes 70808, 70809, 70810 and 70820, but we serve any family in need.

Our ninth annual Great Turkey Giveaway was Saturday December 14, 2019. We provided more than 500 turkeys and all the trimmings for wonderful Christmas dinners. Big thanks to University Lab School for providing ALL nonperishable items for the holiday meals.

See pictures of our amazing volunteers in action! Donations can be made through our PayPal - note Great Turkey Giveaway.

Read about a research project The Shepherd's Market is part of with LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge Christian Life magazine.

Three Easy Ways to Help

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The Shepherd's Market will serve drive-thru food boxes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 to 10 a.m. unless it becomes apparent that it isn't safe due to COVID-19 concerns. (No Monday shift) We are limiting volunteers to no more than eight (8) per day, so volunteers should contact Theresa Sandifer (225-337-1306 or shepherdsmarket@gmail.com) before showing up.

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The mission of St. Vincent de Paul's Food Services, "through person-to-person contact, mass feeding, sheltering and other channels, encompasses every form of aid which alleviates suffering and promotes dignity and integrity."

The St. Vincent de Paul Dining Room serves meals every day of the year to the homeless, elderly, transient, and poor.

Community members can help by volunteering or making a donation.

Contact information:
225-383-7837

More information about the food services at St. Vincent de Paul and more can be found on the website linked below.

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Society of St. Vincent de Paul Baton Rouge

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In 1982, the Society opened the St. Vincent de Paul Dining Room, which is now the number one hot meal provider in our community. Located at 220 St. Vincent de Paul Place, our dining room serves a hot, nutritious meal every day of the year, as well as a brown bag supper. We serve the homeless, elderly, transient and poor.

Approximately 80% of the food served in our Dining Room is donated. Individuals, restaurants, local bakeries, supermarkets, and the Baton Rouge Food Bank donate food regularly. We also receive government commodities like butter and cheese. Sometimes we serve our guests food prepared by some of Baton Rouge's finest restaurants and bakeries, but most of the time our small kitchen staff and volunteers are busy preparing tasty dishes from donated items such as pork, beef, poultry, fresh vegetables and fruit. Funding to buy the food items that are not donated, and to pay expenses such as utilities, comes primarily from individual donations.

Like any restaurant or business serving food products, we must adhere to strict health regulations. All canned and packaged food products must be within their expiration dates, fresh fruit and vegetables are thoroughly washed, and cooking and refrigeration temperatures are carefully monitored. Our food preparation equipment and facilities meet the highest cleanliness standards.

As you can see, the Dining Room is much more than a "Soup Kitchen." No matter what's on the menu, you can be sure it will be a complete, nutritious and tasty meal. For many of the needy men, women and children in our community, it is the only well balanced meal of the day. For some of our homeless Dining Room guests, it is the only meal of the day. Our brown bag suppers are often the reason many of our citizens in need don't go to bed hungry.

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Food Services - Society of St. Vincent de Paul Baton Rouge

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In 1982, the Society opened the St. Vincent de Paul Dining Room, which is now the number one hot meal provider in our community. Located at 220 St. Vincent de Paul Place, our dining room serves a hot, nutritious meal every day of the year, as well as a brown bag supper.

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"The Sisters cook and prepare a meal five mornings per week for 40-80 homeless people."

Meals are served from 10:00-11:00 am except on Sundays and Thursdays.

Community volunteers are welcomed. Food preperation begins at 8:15 am.

Contact information:
225-383-8367

More information about the Missionaries of Charity Soup Kitchen can be found at the website linked below.

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Missionaries of Charity is a Roman Catholic Latin Rite religious congregation established in 1950 by Mother Teresa. It consists of over 5,300 religious sisters.

Members of the order designate their affiliation using the order's initials, 'M.C.' A member of the Congregation must adhere to the vows of chastity, poverty, obedience and the fourth vow, to give, "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor." We rely entirely on Divine Providence and trust in God to provide for all the needs of the poor.

The M.C. Sisters live a very simple lifestyle without television, radio or items of convenience. They neither smoke nor drink alcohol. They are permitted to visit their families every ten years. A sister's few possessions include: three saris (one to wear, one to wash, one for special occasions): two or three cotton habits; a rope cincture; a pair of sandals; a crucifix and a rosary. They also have a plate, a set of cutlery, a cloth napkin, a canvas bag and a prayer book. In cold countries, sisters may own a cardigan and other articles suited to the local climate such as a coat, scarf and closed shoes.

For the M.C.s, - a humble and simple tool - recall the very meaning of their vocation of serving the poorest of the poor in whom they recognize Christ. They clearly remember Mother Teresa's words; "I am only a little pencil in God's hand". It was precisely a pencil which a Missionary of Charity brought to the altar during the Offertory on the day of Mother Teresa's funeral, celebrated in Calcutta on 13 September 1997. "That was a sister's idea, in order to honor Mother who loved to describe herself as 'God's pencil'. Jesus has so many pencils of God that get worn down, we are only the 'temporary' pencils that God uses to write the history of charity", says Sr. Mary Nirmala Joshi. She is in her 60s and since 13 March 1997 has been Superior General of the Congregation founded in 1950 by Mother Teresa. She is the first 'pencil' after their foundress to outline the itinerary of the M.C.s.

The Missionaries of Charity at St. Agnes 225-383-8367

In 1985, Bishop Stanley Ott invited Mother Teresa (now St. Teresa of Calcutta) to bring some of her sisters, the Missionaries of Charity, to care for the poor in Baton Rouge.

In 1985, Bishop Ott, with the kind approval of St. Agnes Church Pastor, Fr. Spriggs, gave the former St. Agnes Elementary School building to Mother Teresa. Mother had brought Sr. Priscilla, the Regional Superior, and four M.C.s to open the new foundation in Baton Rouge. The names of the first four sisters were Sr. Deepam (superior), Sr. Maria Seraphino, Sr. Thomas More and Sr. Scholastica.

The Sisters stayed in the former convent of the Dominican Sisters and had a maternity home upstairs for unwed mothers. Later, the 2nd floor was used for catechism classes for St. Agnes parishioners' children. A soup kitchen was opened very soon after the foundation and was held in the parish cafeteria, while a shelter for homeless women was opened in the former school building.

Our apostolate at this time includes:

1) A Shelter for homeless women and small children. We provide a place to sleep and 2 meals (breakfast and supper) for these homeless families. At present we have 58 woman and children, including 7 pregnant women, as guests in our shelter. We work in conjunction with the Bishop Ott Day Program. A Diocesan Van transports our residents to their facility where social workers assist our guests in finding employment and housing, then they return to the our shelter at 2:30pm

2) A Soup Kitchen - The Sisters cook and prepare a meal five mornings per week for 40-80 homeless people. Food preparation begins at 8:15 am and meals are served from 10:00-11:00 am. We do not serve meals on Sundays and Thursdays. Volunteers are always welcome!

3) Catechism - four of the Sisters teach in the P.S.R. program at St. Agnes. In this program the Sisters prepare 2nd graders for their First Holy Communion as well as the 11th grade students for Confirmation. The Sisters also teach the 4th and 6th graders catechism in the PSR program. As well as the PSR Catechism classes, the Sisters teach another Catechism program - their own program- called the Good Shepherd program. The Sisters teach this program to the children on Monday afternoons throughout the year.

The Lay Missionaries of Charity are a third order of the M. C. family and were founded in Rome in 1986 by Fr. Sebastian, M.C.. They are a group of lay persons who take vows of poverty, conjugal chastity and obedience and who follow a rule of life of dedicated prayer and who live according to the spirit of St. Teresa of Calcutta within their families. They meet for adoration in the Sister's Chapel twice a month.

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Missionaries of Charity is a Roman Catholic Latin Rite religious congregation established in 1950 by Mother Teresa. It consists of over 5,300 religious sisters. Members of the order designate their affiliation using the order's initials, 'M.C.'

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The mission of Healthy BR is to "foster a movement based on communication, coordination, and collaboration that promotes a better and healthier life for all people in the great city of Baton Rouge."

The Healthy BR webpage has featured recipes, food access, and local garden resources. Not only does Healthy BR provide for nutritional needs, but also encourages the community to learn, be active, and be well.

Contact information:
225-389-3100

To explore the Healthy BR website, click the link below.