
About
What Is It?
A program run by Magnificat Houses, a Christian assistance ministry, that serves 200-400 nutritious, home-cooked lunches per day, six days a week (Tuesday-Sunday), to downtown Houston’s needy.
Help Needed:
Assist Loaves & Fishes’ cooks as they prepare the food, help serve the meal, chat with diners, and help clean up. Contact Loaves & Fishes for COVID-related updates.
Details
Minimum Age to Volunteer
16
Time Commitment
Shifts run from 9:30 AM to noon. Contact Loaves & Fishes for parking information. On Sundays, a Catholic Mass takes place before lunch.
Suitable for Groups of Volunteers?
Yes. Please schedule your service in advance so you can help on days when you are most needed.
Training Needed
None; instructions will be provided. Wear comfortable clothing and closed toe shoes (no sandals or flip flops). Hair nets and gloves (provided) are required when serving food.
Help Needed

HELP PREPARE AND SERVE LUNCH
Assist Loaves & Fishes’ cooks as they prepare the food, help serve the meal, chat with diners, and help clean up.
Some volunteers choose to bring home-cooked or purchased food, or bring food to cook on-site. This is optional; please contact Loaves & Fishes for more information.

COLLECT ITEMS FOR HYGIENE KITS
Loaves & Fishes welcomes donations of small sizes of soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and other items. Contact Director of Volunteering Larry Cronin (see below) for more information.
Contact Details
Contact
Please visit the Magnificat Houses volunteer page and fill out the volunteer form, specifying that you’d like to help at Loaves & Fishes. You may also contact Director of Volunteering Larry Cronin at lcronin@mhihouston.org or call (713) 224-1373 between 8 AM and 11 AM, Tuesday through Sunday.
Location
LOAVES & FISHES SOUP KITCHEN
Houston, Texas 77002
Location Details
Houston, Texas 77002
Additional Information
Examples of past Scout projects
Eagle: Provided food and volunteers to prepare and serve two lunches, and provided volunteers for a third lunch.
Eagle: Luke H. (Troop 66) beautified the outdoor eating area by sanding and repainting the front fence and adding plants.
Please contact me for donation.
Dear Ms. Duenes,
Thank you for your comment. Please visit the Loaves and Fishes website to make a donation. I hope this is helpful!
Best,
Claire
I am interested in volunteering sometime soon. I would also like to bring a group that includes school aged children. Please let me know when is a good time to come in and serve. Thank you!
Hello,
Thank you for your comment!
Volunteers at Loaves and Fishes must be at least 16 years old. Please click here to browse a list of other nonprofits that serve food / benefit the homeless and welcome volunteers under 12.
To sign up to volunteer with your group at Loaves and Fishes, please email Director of Volunteering Larry Cronin at lcronin@mihhouston.org or call 713-224-1373. I hope this is helpful.
Best,
Claire
That email is not correct, I have tried emailing and calling, the email comes back as not deliverable and the phone just rings and rings
I am so sorry. The original email had a typo and we have corrected it. The sentence now reads, “Please email Director of Volunteering Larry Cronin at lcronin@mhihouston.org or call (713) 224-1373 between 8 AM and 11 AM, Tuesday through Sunday, to sign up to volunteer.” I hope you can reach Loaves and Fishes now. Thank you for volunteering!
I would like to come and volunteer with three other people on Saturday morning. I’ve called multiple times but can’t reach anyone. Would it be a possibility for us to volunteer??
Hello,
Thank you for your comment! I’m sorry that you’re having difficulty reaching Loaves and Fishes. I would suggest emailing Director of Volunteering Larry Cronin at lcronin@mihhouston.org or calling again at 713-224-1373. I hope this is helpful.
Best,
Claire
Good evening,
My name is Ms.Rossan, I am emailing from Angels with a Mission. I am the Program Director for the nonprofit. Our volunteers have expressed a want, and that’s to volunteer with your organization. . Can you provide me with the dates of upcoming events for this activity? We are currently working on our 2019 calendar. Our nonprofits website information is http://www.angelswithamission.net .
Thank you in advance for your help.
Rossan Antia
Dear Ms. Antia,
Thank you for your comment! To sign up to volunteer with your group at Loaves and Fishes, please email Director of Volunteering Larry Cronin at lcronin@mihhouston.org or call 713-224-1373. I hope this is helpful.
Best,
Claire
I got an undeliverable mail alert when I emailed Mr. Cronin at the address above. Is the email perhaps @mhihouston.org rather than mih?
Yes, you’re right! We’ve corrected the email address on the site and the sentence now reads, “Please email Director of Volunteering Larry Cronin at lcronin@mhihouston.org or call (713) 224-1373 between 8 AM and 11 AM, Tuesday through Sunday, to sign up to volunteer.” Thank you for catching this.
Ms. Furse, I just received an error message when I attempted to email Mr. Cronin…the text appears below…
Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:
lcronin@mihhouston.org (lcronin@mihhouston.org)
Your message couldn’t be delivered. The Domain Name System (DNS) reported that the recipient’s domain does not exist.
Contact the recipient by some other means (by phone, for example) and ask them to tell their email admin that it appears that their domain isn’t properly registered at their domain registrar. Give them the error details shown below. It’s likely that the recipient’s email admin is the only one who can fix this problem.
Diagnostic information for administrators:
Generating server: DM5PR19MB0122.namprd19.prod.outlook.com
lcronin@mihhouston.org
Remote Server returned ‘550 5.4.310 DNS domain mihhouston.org does not exist [Message=InfoDomainNonexistent] [LastAttemptedServerName=mihhouston.org] [DM3NAM05FT041.eop-nam05.prod.protection.outlook.com]’
For more information and tips to fix this issue see this article: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=389361.
I am so sorry. There was a typo in the original email address but we have now corrected it. The sentence now reads, “Please email Director of Volunteering Larry Cronin at lcronin@mhihouston.org or call (713) 224-1373 between 8 AM and 11 AM, Tuesday through Sunday, to sign up to volunteer.” Thank you for your message and thanks for volunteering!
Do you accept donations of plastic ware, paper plates, and plastic or Styrofoam cups?
This is a good question. Please email Director of Volunteering Larry Cronin at lcronin@mhihouston.org or call (713) 224-1373 between 8 AM and 11 AM, Tuesday through Sunday, to ask about donating disposable plates and cups. Thank you!
Would love to come and volunteer help cook I’m retired need something to do
Hello Betty –
I’m sure Loaves and Fishes would love to have help because they do lots of cooking. Please email Director of Volunteering Larry Cronin at lcronin@mhihouston.org or call (713) 224-1373 between 8 AM and 11 AM, Tuesday through Sunday, to sign up to volunteer. Please let us know what you think of volunteering there. Thank you!!
Hello,
Hope all is well. I have been trying to get in contact with someone for weeks now. I have called several times and emailed Larry Cronin at lcronin@mhihouston.org. Only one time was my call answered and I was told Mr. Larry will reach out to me. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard back from him.
I would love to sign up as a volunteer. I hope I can hear back from someone soon to go through the process. 🙂