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About Us
Serving Up STABILITY & HOPE
Our Daily Bread is an Over-the-Rhine (Cincinnati, Ohio) ministry of hospitality dedicated to serving the needs of the neighborhood residents and those who frequent the area.
The ministry provides stability and hope for its guests and the neighborhood community. It is a place where guests are invited to share a warm meal, receive social services, and to socialize in a caring, supportive and welcoming environment.
Over 25 years of Dedication
The organization has been in operation since January 1985. With a desire to open a daytime feeding place and Hospitality center, Cookie Vogelpohl, along with friends and family took a giant step of faith in October of 1984 and rented a basement space on Logan Street near Findlay Market, ODB operated from those two rooms for 17 years. In 1999, the City of Cincinnati purchased the building and it became necessary to move. After months of searching, we found a dilapidated building at Elder and Race Streets - on the opposite end of Findlay Market from where we had been. On August 20, 2001, after a year of rehabbing the building, we had our Grand Opening to the hungry and poor of the city.
When Our Daily Bread began, we were happy to offer a safe haven and a hot meal to whomever found their way to our door. After 25 years, we are serving more than 500 poor and mentally ill people each day. We instituted a Learning Center that would teach reading and help guests prepare for a GED; leading to the hiring of a Social Worker in 1996. In 1997, we added our after school program for children - Kids Cafe - in cooperation with the Freestore/Foodbank.
We have grown to serving upwards of 500 meals daily and have our facility full each weekday with food service, social services, a visiting nurse once a week, foot care, and our children's program. ODB has become a center in the poorest of poor communities within Cincinnati. We offer a warm, safe place for those who live on the street or are one step from it. ODB also offers the means, for those who can, to change their future.
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Our Guests
- In April 2010, over 16,000 people came to Our Daily Bread-more than twice the number we served in that month in 2006.
- 24% of our guests have jobs.
- 35% have completed some form of schooling beyond high school.
- 66% have housing.
- We estimate that about 2/3 of our guests have some form of mental illness.
- 79% of guests surveyed listed "meals" as a reason they come to Our Daily Bread.
- 50% said they also come to socialize.
The organization
- Our Daily Bread serves a mid-day meal Monday through Friday from 9:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Guests are welcome to stay until we close at 2:30 p.m. Except on Friday when we close at noon.
- We serve an average of more than 500 meals daily.
- About 125 volunteers a week are needed for running the kitchen, picking up donations and spending time with the children in Kids Café.
- It costs more than $800,000 per year to operate Our Daily Bread and nearly every dollar comes from private support and foundation grants.
- We partner with the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, the Cincinnati Health Care for the Homeless Medical Van, the Cincinnati Recreation Center and the Tri-Health Parish Nurse Program to provide legal, medical and other services to guests.
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