When Riz Khan was in elementary school,  his father would tell him that if you have a piece of bread, you should cut it in half and give the other half to someone else so that you are both half-full.

That’s a lesson he’s kept in the back of his mind years later as the co-founder of the Little Angels Foundation, a St. Louis-based nonprofit organization that provides nutritious, home-cooked meals to children, refugees, immigrants and the unhoused community. 

Khan and his wife, Farah Alam, are both from India and moved to St. Louis when Alam was pursing her MBA from Washington University in St. Louis in 2005. They founded the Little Angels Foundation in 2013 in memory of their late son. Knowing that he wanted to honor his son’s memory but unsure of what was involved in starting a 501(c)3 organization, Khan enrolled in the Nonprofit Management & Leadership certificate program at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

“I founded the organization in memory of my son, but at the same time, I had no experience in the basic first steps, like how to set the organization up and how to register it,” Khan said. “You need a board, you need money to run it, you need people to run it. Although it was a very short-term certification course, for me, it was really, really helpful. That basic certification really helped me to take it to the next level. It’s always a bumpy ride when you start anything, but that course guided me and helped me, and here we are, 10 years later.”

The Little Angels Foundation was initially founded to support children in need, but in 2018 began serving meals to the unhoused community when Khan saw the level of food insecurity in St. Louis. Each week, the organization serves more than 200 six-course meals to the unhoused community in St. Louis, both directly, at a table Khan and his team set up on Clark Avenue on Saturday mornings, and through partnerships with local shelters. To date, they have donated over 160,841 hot, home-cooked meals to St. Louisans in need.

“Not everybody can afford a house a car or whatever, but everybody should get food, period, end of discussion,” Khan said.

“For us, equity is making sure everybody gets fed and they get the meals that they need and deserve,” Alam added.

Over the years, the Little Angels Foundation has continued to expand its services to support immigrants and refugees in the community through a partnership with the International Institute of St. Louis. In addition to hot, home-cooked meals, the organization provides culturally sensitive groceries and clothes. The organization has also teamed up with the Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry to support people transitioning out of prison life. 

Khan and Alam stress that Little Angels will provide meals to anyone who requests them – no questions asked.

“There’s been a lot of outreach from single families that were going through hardship, deciding are they going to pay their utility bill or are they going to put food on the table?” Alam said. “We very simply serve anyone, no questions asked. You reach out to tell us what you need in terms of food, and we will try to help you as much as we can. That’s inclusion for us because there are a lot of government agencies and things like that where you have to prove your low income or you have to prove that you are trying to find a job to get access to those resources. With us, there are no questions asked. If you’ve reached out, we understand you have a need and we’re going to try and do whatever we can to fulfill that need.”

The Little Angels Foundation is completely run by a team of volunteers who buy the groceries, cook the meals and distribute them to those in need. Khan and Alam purposely chose not to operate Little Angels as a faith-based organization, welcoming volunteers of all faiths or no faiths to serve together under one roof. And despite the sheer volume of meals provided to the community, the organization is still based out of their own home – they estimate their basement is about 60% full of supplies, and Alam said her car won’t even fit in the garage.

In the future, the couple would like to find a permanent home for the Little Angels Foundation, which would enable them to expand their services to offer breakfast, lunch and dinner to those in need. In addition to space, they’re also in need of resources and partnerships that will allow them to expand their services and touch more lives.

Khan has been recognized for his work as a recipient of many awards including the prestigious George H.W. Bush Points of Light Awards, which honor individuals who demonstrate the transformative power of service, and the New Horizons Achievement Award from the International Institute of St. Louis, which recognizes “a business or organization founded by a first-generation immigrant or refugee with visionary leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, and dedication to breaking barriers and creating opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds.” Most recently, he was named a recipient of the St. Louis Business Journal’s Champions for Diversity & Inclusion Awards this fall. 

This spring, Khan and Alam appeared on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in the “Good Neighbors” segment, which highlights people from across the country who are stepping up in big ways for their local communities and neighbors. During the episode, the organization received $10,000 from Save-A-Lot, which Clarkson ended up matching herself for a total of $20,000. The money went a long way in purchasing groceries and providing meals to those in need, but Khan and Alam know that the need is not going away anytime soon.

“We are blessed that we are able to help,” Khan said. “We’re on a journey; we don’t have a destination. We are able to bring people together from all walks of life because together we are stronger.”