Mama’s Kitchen CEO Alberto Cortés Retire after 21 Years at Helm

Alberto Cortés publicizes that after 21 years of service, he will likely be retiring because the Chief Government Officer of Mama’s Kitchen, after elevating the group right into a nationwide mannequin for medically tailor-made meal supply and the Meals is Medication motion.

“Making the choice to retire from this impactful group that I’ve helped develop alongside our superb employees, beneficiant donors, devoted volunteers, dedicated board, and devoted neighborhood members required thought, consideration, and care. Mama’s Kitchen will proceed to thrive and take care of our neighborhood’s most weak people,” Cortés stated.

Mama’s Kitchen is a supplier of home-delivered meals within the San Diego area.

“After all, we’re unhappy to see Alberto retire, however we’re immensely grateful for the onerous work, time, and fervour with which he has served Mama’s Kitchen and the San Diego neighborhood for over 20 years,” Mama’s Kitchen Board President, Caron Calabrese, Esq. stated. “He has actually led this group to new heights and made it a number one authority on options to diet insecurity and medically tailor-made meals in San Diego and past. Alberto has been the guts of Mama’s Kitchen and we’re excited to see him enter this new chapter. For somebody who has made it his mission to take care of others, we’re blissful for him to find time for himself.”

Cortés first joined Mama’s Kitchen’s board of administrators in 1999. After a number of years of service in native public well being initiatives, he was employed to guide the nonprofit group as govt director on July 8, 2002. Underneath his management, Mama’s Kitchen has grown from a $1.7 million to a $5.5 million nonprofit company, making it a pacesetter within the sector.

Throughout Cortes’ tenure, the group has delivered 8.75 million meals. Right this moment, Mama’s Kitchen is the only supplier of medically tailor-made meals, delivering greater than 75,000 every month to critically ailing people and youngsters.

Cortés as a Visionary

In 2006, Cortés guided probably the most vital choices of Mama’s Kitchen’s historical past to broaden the group’s HIV-focused mission to serve San Diegans with different crucial diseases. Because the group’s capability elevated over time, well being situations that may be improved with correct diet have been added, together with most cancers in 2006, kind 2 diabetes and congestive coronary heart failure in 2018, and most just lately, continual kidney illness in 2020.

Cortés employed Mama’s Kitchen’s first registered dietitian in 2013 and established the group’s Diet Schooling Program to show critically ailing people the way to handle their well being via correct diet as a complement to medically tailor-made meals.

He managed the launch of Mama’s Pantry in 2004, a service offered for over 16 years. He launched the Emergency Meals Help Program and a Medical Diet Remedy program in 2016.

In 2020, Cortés secured the primary managed care plan contract, permitting companies to achieve a fair better variety of weak individuals via Medi-Cal’s CalAIM initiative. Mama’s Kitchen works with greater than 350 healthcare suppliers all through San Diego County to serve and educate San Diegans with crucial diseases and share its trusted perception that everyone seems to be entitled to the essential necessity of life – nutritious meals.

Mama’s Kitchen’s much-anticipated annual fundraisers of Mama’s Day and Mama’s Pies Thanksgiving Bake Sale have grown underneath Cortés’ stewardship to boost tons of of hundreds of {dollars} in donations annually to assist the group’s diet packages. 

Cortés has shepherded the transition of Mama’s Kitchens from understanding of a church basement to its present, fully-owned facility on House Avenue, the place operations proceed to develop. He has helped to put the groundwork for the subsequent era of meals as medication for the San Diego neighborhood, and Mama’s Kitchen will proceed down the trail that has been so thoughtfully and tirelessly paved by Cortés.

Nationwide Recognition

Along with the growth of diet packages and companies, Cortés additionally helped information the group’s shift to perform underneath the paradigm of Meals is Medication. Over the previous 10 years, Mama’s Kitchen progressed from merely the supply of meals to offering complicated medically tailor-made diet.

Cortés has collaborated with different diet supply nonprofits throughout the nation, positioning Mama’s Kitchen to turn out to be a founding member of the Nationwide Meals is Medication Coalition and California Meals is Medication Coalition. 

Throughout Cortés’ time with Mama’s Kitchen, he and the group have obtained a number of awards of recognition, as effectively.

“My time with Mama’s Kitchen was just one chapter of a 36-year profession within the nonprofit sector that began in response to the AIDS epidemic – an epidemic that impacted my life, whereas additionally offering a transparent sense of function. I’m grateful for the chance to serve San Diego. I look ahead to witnessing Mama’s Kitchen’s continued development, evolution, and success serving the ever-changing and difficult dietary wants of our communities,” displays Cortés.

Mama’s Kitchen has shaped a search committee to determine and choose Cortés’ successor. Extra details about methods to rejoice Cortés and his achievements will likely be forthcoming, together with a marketing campaign that will likely be enacted in his identify to proceed his legacy of caring for our neighborhood. Comply with mamaskitchen.org for extra particulars within the coming months.