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www.lafoodbank.org

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is a charitable hunger-relief organization that serves people at risk for hunger throughout Los Angeles County. Since its establishment in 1973, the Food Bank has expanded to serve more than 1 million people a year through its network of over 640 charitable agencies with over 1,000 program and agency sites. Partner agencies include food pantries, afterschool programs, soup kitchens and senior and community centers. The mission of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is to mobilize resources to fight hunger in the community. The Food Bank fulfills its mission in three ways:

•Source and acquire food and other products and distribute them to deserving people through charitable agencies or directly through programs.

•Energize the community to get involved and support hunger relief.

•Conduct hunger education and awareness campaigns and advocate for public policies that alleviate hunger.

The Food Bank aims to alleviate hunger with a vision that no one goes hungry in Los Angeles County.

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is a member of Feeding America, the California Association of Food Banks and the Los Angeles Food Policy Council.

History

Pasadena resident and cook Tony Collier founded the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank in 1973 when he applied the food-banking concept to his work at the Grandview Foundation. Collier received more food donations from local businesses than he expected and subsequently shared them with other organizations feeding the hungry. Four members of the community, impressed with Collier’s charitable work, formed a volunteer Board of Directors and incorporated the Food Bank as an independent nonprofit organization.

Pasadena resident Tony Collier is the founder of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and started the food banking concept in 1973 at the Grandview Foundation. Collier, a cook with a charitable organization, received more food donations from local businesses than he anticipated, and shared them with other organizations. Four members of the community impressed with Collier’s work in helping individuals, who are at-risk for hunger, formed a voluntary Board of Directors and created the Food Bank.

From its beginning in a two-car garage, the Food Bank moved into a converted 2,600 square foot dry cleaning facility on Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena. In 1982, then known as Community Food Resources Inc., the Food Bank made a 10,000 square foot warehouse in El Monte its home, tripling its storage capacity. To reflect its service to all areas of Los Angeles County, the organization changed its name to Los Angeles Regional Food Bank in 1986. In 1989, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank moved to its present location—55,000 square foot facility specifically designed to be a food bank. In 1999, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank purchased two adjacent buildings adding an additional 41,000 square feet to its facility. The current distribution center totals to an area of 96,000 square feet. The Food Bank is also leasing an additional 87,000 square feet warehouse located on 54th Street in Vernon, California. In 2000, Michael Flood became the new President/CEO of the Food Bank. Under his leadership, the Food Bank has expanded to serve more than 1 million children, seniors and adults in Los Angeles County. Currently, the Food Bank distributes over 1 million pounds of food and fresh produce (equivalent to 770,000 meals) on a weekly basis. The operations of the Food Bank relies on the support of foundations, individuals and corporate donors, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and dedicated volunteers with 97.1% of every dollar raised going directly to serve those at risk for hunger in Los Angeles County.

Food Bank Programs

The Food Bank’s programs include: General Food Distribution through its 640 partner agencies and the Fresh Produce Distribution programs. The Food Bank distributes food from an additional 130 program sites including:

Children's Nutrition Programs provide healthy after-school and summer snacks and nutritious summer lunches at 29 Kids Cafe™ sites and weekend back packs full of nutritious food for children at various elementary schools throughout Los Angeles County. The Children’s BackPack program distributes over 38,450 backpacks to more than 1,275 school children at 11 elementary schools in Los Angeles County.

Senior Nutrition Programs provide monthly food kits through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) to more than 23,000 seniors at 91 senior program sites, and weekly grocery bags full of food and fresh produce to 3,500 low-income seniors per month through the Brown Bag Program at 14 program sites. Nutrition Education Program educates and informs children and their families who participate in the Children's Nutrition Programs and seniors who participate in the Senior Nutrition Programs about the importance of healthy nutrition and life style choices.

CalFresh Outreach Program helps low-income, food insecure individuals and families to determine their eligibility and assists with accessing the public food stamp program through the work of Food Bank CalFresh Outreach workers.