The nonprofit Mama’s Kitchen was launched in 1990 when a San Diego caregiver started delivering free meals to local men sick with HIV and AIDS. That same year, San Diego attorney Jennifer Kearns was introduced to the tragedy of the AIDS crisis when she began helping these dying young men write their wills.

This Friday, Mama’s Kitchen will host its 26th annual Mama’s Day, a gourmet tastings event that is the organization’s biggest fundraiser of the year. And Kearns — who has been donating her money and time to Mama’s Kitchen from its earliest days — is serving as the event’s 2017 chair.

“I always tell people to eat lightly before they come and wear elastic-waist pants,” Kearns said. “The restaurants that participate, they go all out. The food is delectable, unique and the chefs engage in a healthy competition to set themselves apart.”

More than 50 San Diego restaurants, catering companies, wineries and breweries will participate in Mama’s Day from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Friday at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine. They include Bice San Diego, Searsucker, Nine-Ten, Catania, Ponsaty’s, Poseidon, Top of the Market and Loews Coronado Resort.


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Mama’s Day

What: Gourmet tastings by 50 restaurants, caterers, bakeries and wineries to raise money for Mama’s Kitchen

When: 6:30-9:30 p.m. Friday; VIP reception begins at 5:30 p.m.

Where: Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine, 3777 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego

Tickets: $150 in advance, $175 at the door. VIP Ticket: $250 (includes access at 5:30 p.m. to an exclusive VIP dining area and pre-party featuring a private culinary presentation by Chef Bernard Guillas of The Marine Room, and full hosted bar for two hours.)


Online: mamaskitchen.org/events/mamas-day/

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Up to 700 people attend the annual event, netting Mama’s Kitchen up to $200,000 each year. The money is used to prepare home-delivered hot meals and stock a food pantry for its nearly 1,300 clients with HIV/AIDS and cancer, according to Alberto Cortés, executive director of Mama’s Kitchen. He can’t say enough about Kearns’ longtime commitment to the organization.

“She is passionate, she is dedicated, she is intelligent and she is a really fun person, too,” Cortés said. “From the first time I met her, well over 10 years ago, I could see she had a keen understanding the importance of being an effective board member. I’ve always been grateful for her.”


After earning her law degree at the University of San Diego, 27-year-old Kearns was working as a junior lawyer at the now-defunct Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison’s law firm. Shocked at the prejudice an older lawyer at the company showed toward AIDS patients, Kearns decided to find a way to help. When she won a $1,500 cash prize at Brobeck’s annual casino night, she donated it to Mama’s Kitchen. She also dedicated all of her pro bono hours to the South Bay Legal Clinic, which was providing the will services.

In those days, there was no effective treatment for the disease and there was a growing tide of fear and hate toward people with AIDS. Kearns said she could see how these men were being cast aside by society and she felt a strong personal connection.

“I’m half Chinese and half Irish. I looked racially mixed when I was growing up in the 1960s and was subjected to racial epithets and slurs,” she said. “Because of that, I’ve always had an empathy for people who are different. Back then, LGBT and HIV/AIDS people were horribly marginalized and I just felt an affinity for them and their needs.”

Jennifer Kearns, chair of the Mama’s Day fundraiser on May 12, photographed in the food pantry at Mama’s Kitchen headquarters in San Diego. The organization delivers free nutritious meals to people with HIV/AIDS and cancer and it runs a pantry for low-income people with HIV/AIDS. (Nancee E. Lewis / San Diego Union-Tribune)


In 2003, Kearns attended her first Mama’s Day event. The following year, she joined Mama’s Kitchen’s board of directors — a position she has held ever since, except for a two-year break in 2012-2013 due to term limits. She was board president in 2007 and Mama’s Day co-chair in 2008. All of these efforts have been supported by Kearns’ employer, the law firm Duane Morris, where she’s served as a partner in its employment law division since 2004. She also serves on the company’s diversity and inclusion initiative and the firm has co-sponsored Mama’s Day for several years.

Because of her work with Mama’s Kitchen, Kearns was honored in 2011 with the Tom Homann Law Association’s Friend of the Community Award, which is given to non-LGBT volunteers who have given selflessly to the gay community.

Kearns, who lives in Kensington with her “Westie” terrier Clyde, said what keeps her coming back to Mama’s Kitchen is knowing how much good the organization does with relatively few resources. The organization has an annual budget of $2.5 million and just 13 paid full- and part-time staff. The rest of the work is done by nearly 800 volunteers who last year donated 33,000 hours answering phones, staffing the offices, pantry and fundraisers and packing and delivering meals.

In 2006, Mama’s Kitchen’s board voted to expand its mission to include cancer patients because improved drug cocktail regimens have dramatically reduced the number of Americans dying of AIDS. Delivery has also been expanded to provide meals to any minor children living with clients. And Cortés said the organization is considering broadening its eligibility requirements to serve people with heart disease, diabetes and other debilitating conditions.


Ellie Ramos, 50, of Paradise Hills received meal delivery services from Mama’s Kitchen from 2012 to 2015 while battling breast cancer, severe radiation burns and the connective tissue disease dermatomyositis. Because her husband was working out of town at the time, Ramos was forced to move in with her parents during her convalescence. The meal service for Ramos and her teenage daughter lightened her burden both financially and emotionally.

“I get chills thinking about how awesome and how blessed I’ve been,” Ramos said. “Some days I just wanted something simple to eat, like an apple, and it was there. I didn’t have to ask people to go to the store. It really helped my mental process not having to ask so much from others.”

Kearns has a demanding job and hobbies that include underwater shark photography, hiking, interval training and cooking. Still, she likes staying connected to Mama’s Kitchen’s clients by filling in from time to time delivering meals, particularly on holidays. One year, while delivering Thanksgiving dinner, a meal recipient insisted she take home one of his home-baked sweet potato pies. She said every time she makes a delivery, it reinforces for her the realization of her good fortune.

“It really drives home that the smallest gesture that you can make in helping another human being with their basic needs is so appreciated,” she said. “It doesn’t require a lot of money or a lot of effort on your part. It’s just about showing up and caring enough to take care of other people. You get back a lot more than you give.”


pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com