Respected Leader Announces Retirement After 21 Years at the Helm

Alberto Cortés has announced that after 21 years of dedicated service, he will be retiring from his position as chief executive officer of Mama’s Kitchen, after elevating the organization into a national model for medically tailored meal delivery and the Food is Medicine movement.

“Making the decision to retire from this impactful organization that I’ve helped develop alongside our amazing staff, generous donors, dedicated volunteers, committed board, and devoted community members required thought, consideration, and care. Mama’s Kitchen will continue to thrive and care for our community’s most vulnerable individuals,” says Cortés.

Mama’s Kitchen is the largest provider of home-delivered meals in the region. Cortés’ leadership puts the organization in a place of strength and stability, allowing for continued growth and the ability to evolve in response to the nutritional needs of a changing community. 

“Of course, we are sad to see Alberto retire, but we are immensely grateful for the hard work, time, and passion with which he has served Mama’s Kitchen and the San Diego community for over two decades,” says Mama’s Kitchen Board President, Caron Calabrese, Esq. “He has truly led this organization to new heights and made it a leading authority on solutions to nutrition insecurity and medically tailored meals in San Diego and beyond. Alberto has been the heart of Mama’s Kitchen and we’re excited to see him enter this new chapter. For someone who has made it his mission to care for others, we are happy for him to make time for himself.”

Cortés first joined Mama’s Kitchen’s board of directors in 1999. After several years of service in local public health initiatives, he was hired to lead the nonprofit organization as executive director on July 8, 2002. Under his leadership, Mama’s Kitchen has grown from a $1.7 million to a $5.5 million nonprofit agency, making it a leader in the sector. During Cortes’ tenure, the organization has delivered an impressive 8.75 million meals. Today, Mama’s Kitchen is the largest nonprofit provider of home-delivered meals in San Diego and the sole provider of medically tailored meals, delivering more than 75,000 each month to critically ill individuals and children.

In 2006, Cortés guided one of the most significant decisions of Mama’s Kitchen’s history to expand the organization’s HIV-focused mission to serve San Diegans with other critical illnesses. As the organization’s capacity increased over time, health conditions that can be improved with proper nutrition have been added, including cancer in 2006, type 2 diabetes and congestive heart failure in 2018, and most recently, chronic kidney disease in 2020. Since the founding of the organization, its commitment to HIV has never ceased.

Cortés hired Mama’s Kitchen’s first registered dietitian in 2013 and established the organization’s Nutrition Education Program to teach critically ill individuals how to manage their health through proper nutrition as a supplement to the medically tailored meals. He managed the launch of Mama’s Pantry in 2004, a service provided for over 16 years. He introduced the Emergency Food Assistance Program and a Medical Nutrition Therapy program in 2016. In 2020, Cortés secured the first managed care plan contract, allowing services to reach an even greater number of vulnerable people through Medi-Cal’s CalAIM initiative. Thanks to Cortés’ persistence and determination, Mama’s Kitchen works with more than 350 healthcare providers throughout San Diego County to serve and educate San Diegans with critical illnesses and further the organization’s trusted belief that everyone is entitled to the basic necessity of life – nutritious food.

When Covid-19 hit, operations could have been jeopardized due to an immediate and drastic increase in demand for meal delivery by more than 50 percent, while simultaneously challenged by an inability to have in-facility volunteers to prepare the meals, and a shortage of volunteer drivers to deliver them. Cortés led the nonprofit through the pandemic with grace. He was diligent in ensuring the safety of clients, volunteers, and employees, allowing the organization to increase capacity, all while never turning away an eligible client, never putting a client on a waiting list, and never charging a client for their services.

Mama’s Kitchen’s much-anticipated annual fundraisers of Mama’s Day and Mama’s Pies Thanksgiving Bake Sale have grown under Cortés’ stewardship to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations each year to support the organization’s nutrition programs. 

Cortés has shepherded the transition of Mama’s Kitchen’s from working out of a church basement to its current, fully owned facility on Home Avenue, where operations continue to grow. He has helped to lay the groundwork for the next generation of food as medicine for the San Diego community, and Mama’s Kitchen will continue down the path that has been so thoughtfully and tirelessly paved by Cortés.

Category: Donations, Food, Government, Local News, Nonprofit, Volunteers