News from the Kitchen #6 February 2020

News From the Kitchen #6 February 2020

It was a whole month of LOVE!

We have been feeding a hot, nutritious meal to homeless and hungry men, women and children in Hollywood every night of the year, without fail, for over thirty years.

Thank you Emma Stone!

What a spectacular Valentine's evening at Carondolet House! A world of gratitude to Oscar- winner Emma Stone for hosting such a fabulous night of enchantment and magic that raised funds for HFC and other worthy charities. There was music, dancing, drinks (mmm thank you Baileys!), and fun! Don't fret if you missed it - Em & Friends host several fabulous fundraising events throughout the year! Thanks again HFC team with Emma: Actress and volunteer extraordinaire Emma, Lauren, and Noah! Martha MacIsaac, Board member Noah Gonzalez, Oscar- Winner Emma Stone, Board Member Nichelle Hines, Director of Development Brandon Reim, and Board Member Melissa Lintinger.

A Food Sharing Story

Thanks to the marvelous efforts of our board member Bonnie Friedericy and her mighty band of Pick-Up Artists, we are rescuing more food than we can serve to our own clients – so we now share it with fellow nonprofit agencies! One amazing organization we share food with is Village Family Services, who runs a Drop-In Center for transitional-aged-youth, persons aged 14 to 25 who are living on the streets.

...continue reading below!

Around the Table Club!

HFC is launching our Around the Table club. Gather your friends together for food, fun and good deeds. Create a party small or large, casual or fancy, pizza or prime rib to help HFC continue to create our own nightly around the table experience for people struggling with food insecurity and isolation. Interested? Email Ruby at [email protected]. Eat, Play, Give!

I'M IN! We need volunteers!

Join us! We need you! This slow season we need helpers for afternoon meal prep. Are YOU IN? If so, sign up at www.hofoco.org/volunteer/

We also need outgoing and enthusiastic folks for volunteer outreach: to talk up HFC at volunteer fairs, college campuses, service orgs. Email [email protected] if that piques your interest.

OR - join the Pick-Up Artist team and rescue food from restaurants and film sets! Email [email protected] to sign up!

A Thrilling New Production!

"Human Interest Story," on stage now through April 5 at the award-winning Fountain Theatre, is a modern day retelling of Frank Capra's classic "Meet John Doe."

- The line between where you are now and sleeping in your car is much thinner than you think.

Every night, non-perishable donations collected for worthy organizations, including HFC!

Get tickets here!

Help Ralph's donate to HFC

1. Get a Ralph's Rewards card at the store. 2. Go to www.ralphs.com and create an online account. 3. Register/add your Rewards card to your new online account. 4. Click on Enroll and enter "Hollywood Food Coalition" as your designated nonprofit. 5. Ralph's will now donate 1-4% of your eligible purchase price to HFC every time you shop!

It's not Caring 365 this year...it's 366!

A huge thanks to all of our supporters and volunteers who are spending their extra day pitching in. It's not a leap to say how grateful we are - you amaze us every day! If you can't make it to the kitchen, consider helping out by pitching in some much needed funds!

Donate now!

A Food Sharing Story

Continued from Above...

These vulnerable kids and young adults come to the VFS Drop-In Center for housing placements, showers, laundry, new clothes, hygiene kits and more. While VFS provides them with non- perishable take-away food to eat later, quality prepared food donations had proved harder to access. They were receiving expired food from grocery stores, unappetizing restaurant leftovers, old dried out pastries and moldy bread. The program staff would sort through and discard the worst of the food before the kids could see it. They felt seeing this unappealing food would convey a message to the kids that they weren't worth more than a loaf of moldy bread.

When we approached Village Family Services about sharing some of our food with them, they were very excited!

VFS staff with a fresh baked cake!

We began sharing food with VFS last November when we were able to donate beautiful freshly made salads from Sweetgreen restaurant every day for a full week. The kids were surprised and thrilled, and one was especially pleased to find a salad marked gluten-free! In January, we were able to bring catered food from the Netflix movie “The Prom” which filmed in Woodland Hills. They ate delicious prepared chicken, mac & cheese, salads, and desserts. The kids Googled the movie and were super excited to learn they were eating the same food as Meryl Streep! Now most days we are able to bring catered food from the TV shows “Coop & Cami Ask the World,” and “Made for Love.” The kids are eating wonderful trays of delicious prepared food, sandwiches, fresh fruit, steel cut oats, egg scrambles, potatoes, frittatas, fresh doughnuts, buns and cookies. They love it!

The kids have really responded to having well made, healthy food each day. They were so used to leftovers and top ramen that some asked at first “Is that for us? We thought it was for a staff meeting.” One kid who hadn’t visited the drop-in center in a while came back and said, “Wow the food has definitely improved here at the Drop-In Center Café.” Now all the kids use that nickname for the food program! The word has gotten out too. Another youth who had been living in a park two blocks away for years, but had never visited the Drop-In Center, finally came in and said it was because he heard they had good food. It is bringing young people back to their program and drawing new ones in. The food is driving outreach! We are so pleased to be able to help Village Family Services increase their impact in this way, and we know they are pleased to be providing good quality food that conveys dignity and respect to the underpriviledged kids that they serve.

Thanks a ton to the VFS crew, especially Tarry Kang, Alejandro Soria, and Claudia Zamora!

Music from the Kitchen

From our kitchen to yours, here are some tunes to keep up that groovy chef dance! Song is how we express all that love in our hearts. Keep it real and keep on cooking!

February Playlist

We welcome your help. We need friends, funds and food!

Volunteer Here Donate Here

Mission: to feed and serve the immediate needs of the hungry every night of the year so they can build better lives.

Vision: a city where everyone has food, community, and support. January at Hollywood Food Coaltion

75 Medical and vision services provided 361 Volunteers helped 133 Blankets handed out 2,264 Hygiene products given out 4,083 Articles of clothing distributed 3,955 Total number of meals served!

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