Our Story

Food For Thought’s founding story begins with John Manley, a resident of Guerneville and a bartender at the Triple R Hotel who was living with AIDS. John lived in a small place on Main Street in town, when one day a caring neighbor dropped off a couple of bags of groceries for him. This sparked an idea in John: there should be a food bank for people living with AIDS.

The year was 1988 and Guerneville was the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in Sonoma County. With no effective treatments, many people were suffering and going hungry. At the time, about 100 people died from AIDS in Sonoma County each year.

John shared his food bank idea with patrons at the bar, including his friend Kari Kemp. While many people were supportive of the idea, no one would commit to the actual work it would take to build the food bank. Kari took the initiative to schedule a meeting, advertising it with flyers around Guerneville. Through this effort Betsy Van Dyke joined Kari and together they recruited Sid Smith, Thomas Walter, and Kari’s partner Torch Kleinhenz. These five generous community members were the founding group of Food For Thought.

Food For Thought’s founders met around Kari and Torch’s kitchen table every week for six months to research and plan all the details needed to create a nonprofit organization and operate a food program for people with AIDS. Members of the team had previously volunteered with other AIDS service organizations, and were determined to minimize the bureaucracy, paperwork, and judgement that people with AIDS had to endure to get services.

Together, they created an agency that would treat clients with dignity, respect, and empathy. No appointments were necessary—clients could show up and get food right away.

Today, Food For Thought is still guided by their founding principles: provide healing through nutrition and welcome everyone in need with compassion and love.