Pennsylvania non-profit Food For Life was incorporated in 1984 and has served Philadelphia for the past 25 years through its work with transient and under-privileged residents. Through compassion and dedication, its work creating successful programs and services that benefit the city, its residents, and its surrounds has provided a strong model for leadership and social consciousness.

In 1987, Food For Life expanded its services and opened Philadelphia’s first women’s and children’s shelter. Over the next several years, the shelter expanded and became the City’s first for recovering addicts. The success of this “clean and sober” experiment made it the model for othersubstance-free residences set up throughout the City’s shelter system.In 1991, Food For Life became the first in the country to institute transitional housing for those who graduated from a substance-free shelter, helping to provide necessary support to build a bridge to independent living.

In 1992, the purchase of Dropsie College, once the oldest Rabbinical College in the United States, signaled a new focus for Food For Life. The property was developed as a residence for 65 single veterans, and over the next 11 years, in conjunction with the Veterans Administration, FFL provided 10 additional homes for a transitional housing program known as Shelter Plus Care.

In 2003, Food For Life purchased the complex which houses Philadelphia’s largest homeless shelter and remains active as a consultant for facility management and operations for the project. That same year, FFL’s Florida subsidiary, Southcare, received a federal grant from the Administration on Aging to initiate a pilot program for rural seniors. Through this service, seniors were provided transportation to doctors and shopping, minor home repairs, nutritional “meals on wheels,” and home companion services.

In 2007, Food For Life embraced the cause of special needs housing with the Greater Trenton Behavioral Health Agency through purchase of three properties in Trenton, NJ to provide housing to nine developmentally disabled adults. FFL also partnered once more with the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the construction of a housing facility for under-privileged senior citizens in Philadelphia, which opened its doors to its first residents in late August, 2009.

Once again, Food For Life finds itself compelled to act on behalf of the community, this time rescuing The Elkins Estate, which was slated for demolition and development.