Helpful Honda: Los Angeles Regional Food Bank

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has quite an ambitious goal: that "No one goes hungry in Los Angeles." The organization estimates that 16 percent of the people who live in Los Angeles struggle to get enough food to eat each week. Out of those 1.7 million people, around 400,000 are children. That's a pretty big gap to fill, but so far the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has given out more than 1 billion pounds of food to needy people since its founding in 1973.

Helping In A Variety of Ways
The food bank obtains food for redistribution in a variety of ways. Food drives are the most familiar to most people - just about everyone has brought canned goods or other non-perishable items to a food collection for the Los Angeles Food Bank or a similar charity. Monetary donations are helpful, too, as the food bank converts a single dollar into four meals. However, the organization also works with vendors, restaurants, hotels, caterers and other businesses to redistribute excess food. Instead of being wasted in the trash, this freshly prepared food goes directly to people who really need it.

Needy families often have a hard time getting healthy items like fresh produce. The Los Angeles Food Bank coordinates a "just in time" delivery program to help get fruit, vegetables and other perishables into their hands. Most organizations have limited refrigeration to store fresh food, so timing and prompt distribution is critical.

Not only does the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank directly distribute food, but it also works to end hunger through legislation. For example, the group works to ensure that programs like CalFresh/SNAP get enough funding to help low-income families get groceries and make sure food pantries can continue to directly distribute food. It also supports funding and good administrative policies for programs that feed kids in daycare and after school programs.

Partners In The Fight Against Hunger
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank does important work, and the Southern California Honda Dealers supports its efforts to eradicate hunger in the city. The SoCal Honda Dealers work hands-on to collect food for this organization and others like it. Thanks to their efforts, the food banks have received thousands of pounds of food to feed families, children, and senior citizens struggling to afford their groceries.

The SoCal Honda Dealers and the Guys in Blue are very visible collecting food, handing out gifts, holding holiday parties for the needy and doing other charitable acts at Christmas, but they don't confine their help to just one time of the year. Like the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, they know that there is need in the community each day of the year, and they always work to fulfill it.
 

Barbara Nefer is a freelance writer. Her work can be found on Examiner.com.