How the city and Broderick Roadhouse will help Sacramento State students in need

The city of Sacramento will sponsor up to 6,000 meals for hungry Sacramento State students from Broderick Roadhouse over the next month, according to a news release issued Thursday morning.

Volunteers will distribute a total of 500 containers, each containing enough food for two or three meals, on Sacramento State’s campus on Thursdays and Fridays through May 22. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, university President Robert S. Nelsen and Broderick owner/executive chef Chris Jarosz will pass out the first meals to students with Sacramento State IDs at 11 a.m. Thursday outside Alpine Hall.

In-person Sacramento State classes were canceled indefinitely more than a month ago to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, and many campus services have stopped as well. Nearly half the student body had some food insecurity and a quarter lacked regular food access even before the pandemic, according to a survey published in February 2018.

“One of the most heartbreaking elements of the COVID-19 crisis is the increased stress and uncertainty that our housing insecure and homeless students are experiencing,” Nelsen said in a news release. “Imagine what it is like to be hungry and unsure where your next meal will come from while trying to learn on Zoom. I am immensely grateful to Mayor Steinberg and Broderick Roadhouse for providing meals to hungry students at Sacramento State.”

Money for the meals comes from public nuisance fines collected through the city’s Justice for Neighbors program. The 2,000 containers of food over four weeks will cost the city $20,000.

Jarosz and his Broderick employees have donated more than 15,000 meals to seniors in public housing and people experiencing homelessness in Sacramento and Yolo counties since the shelter-in-place order was issued last month. Broderick has relied on supplier donations to prepare the meals so far, Jarosz wrote in a text message.

“There’s been nothing more rewarding in my restaurant career than this,” Jarosz said in the release. “It’s nice to make a nice entree and get a nice review, but that really doesn’t mean anything. This is changing peoples’ lives.”

Know for its burgers and alcohol milkshakes, Broderick started as a food truck in 2012 and grew to have locations in West Sacramento, midtown, Folsom and Walnut Creek, all of which remain open for takeout along with Oak Park Brewing Co., owned by Jarosz in conjunction with former mayor Kevin Johnson and others. This week’s containers will include barbecued chicken, macaroni and cheese, beef, vegetables and vegan chili.

Raley’s Supermarkets is donating a refrigerated truck to transport the meals to campus this week before Paratransit, Inc. takes over.

The city previously used a Justice for Neighbors grant to fund $174,000 worth of food through the Family Meal program, established by five local restaurants last month to feed low-income seniors, children and other community members.