Our History
COMPA Ministries was officially established in 1988, but began in 1981 when six inner-city pastors began distributing free food from the trunks of their cars to the congregants throughout their neighborhoods. Their desire was to reach out in a practical way to meet the needs of the families and individuals around them. It was a grassroots approach to serving a growing need in their community and putting their compassion in action.
Those original founders named their ministry COMPA Food Ministry, deriving the name from the Spanish word ‘compadre,’ which, when translated, means 'friend' or 'companion'.
Over the course of nearly 30 years, God led us to make choices that shaped COMPA into the dynamic and credible ministry it is today and prepared us for what lies ahead. Today, we are an operationally-sound, innovative and entrepreneurial self-sufficiency agency working to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.
While we still distribute free food on a daily basis, the agency has evolved into a needs-driven organization focused on showing God's love, grace and compassion to those we serve. Our name—COMPA Ministries—better reflects that effort by simply intertwining compadre with the compassion we show every day through our actions.
By providing their basic food needs, we help those in need save money on their food budget, which can then be applied to paying their other obligations, such as rent, utilities and medical prescriptions. By providing vocational training and life skills development, we extend a hand up to those individuals who have gotten off track and desire a better life.
In addition to acquiring and distributing food, we operate a full-production food processing facility and have developed the unique Internet-based Farm Market program to process and distribute perishable food items on a daily basis to more than 140 hunger relief agencies. We also pioneered a community harvest program called Project Glean which uses volunteers to harvest fresh produce from local farms. Nearly 3,500 volunteers help us harvest, sort and distribute food to meet community needs.
We serve those in need with no discrimination of any kind. It’s our way of continuing the legacy of those original founders and putting our COMPAssion in Action.