Packing Thanksgiving Meals at Brentwood Presbyterian Church
Packing Thanksgiving meals at Brentwood Presbyterian Church is a great program! We made over 140 bags to be sent to homeless shelters, and people who are in need of food. When I first arrived, I stamped notes kids from the church made and tied ribbon through them, and they were attached to bags! I arrived early so I got to get a head start! Next, we were assigned jobs, and unboxed the food. Everyone helped with this, and also went in a circle placing food in the bags. Once we were done, we counted the bags!
Brentwood Presbyterian Church: https://www.bpcusa.org/
Food Cycle LA
Food Cycle LA is a great volunteering program! My mom and I signed up to be a food donor. On their app, you can select which location and how many times you want to do this program. In the program, you go to food shops and collect their leftover food and take it to various places where it will be eaten.
Website: https://www.foodcyclela.org/
Our Big Kitchen Los Angeles (OBKLA)
An amazing volunteer opportunity to make meals for people is at OBKLA! The age requirement is 5 and up. Each Sunday session is two hours. Once you arrive, if you have long hair you have to wear a hairnet and all volunteers must wear aprons and gloves at most times. We started off by shaping meatballs and putting them on trays to be cooked. We then made snickerdoodle balls onto trays to be baked, put labels on the cookie bags, and then we took a quick break! After the break we watched a video about OBKLA and packaged the meals. The proceeds go to many people in need of food. As we were leaving, they gave us cookies to hand out to people we saw in need. In total, we made 600 meals! OBKLA is an amazing experience.
Website: https://www.obkla.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/obklosangeles/
Location:
Rise Against Hunger
Today I volunteered with Rise Against Hunger to help fight food insecurity! We packaged meals for people in need to make at home! In total, we made 10,000 meals, and each meal can feed six people! A local organization hosted the event, and you can host one too! You can find more information in their website listed below. Here is a quote from their website, which is listed below. “Hunger is one of the biggest barriers to education. When children know a nutritious meal is waiting for them at school, studies show attendance improves, focus increases and learning takes root.” Their meals go to places in need all around the world. In the meals, you will package in soy, rice, vegetables, and a vitamins packet. After we packaged them, we weighed them and if they weren’t within a specific range, we added more ingredients in, and sealed the bags. This program is also not just in Los Angeles, they are all around the US! This is a great way to support people in need!
Food Forward
Volunteering at Food Forward was so much fun! I volunteered at the Farmers Market Recovery, at the Santa Monica Farmers Market. It is ages 12+. Food Forward collects excess food and donates it to local hunger relief organizations. In 2023, they donated about 1 million pounds of produce! They also have another program called Backyard Harvest. You pick produce from areas where the produce will not be consumed. It is ages 5+. When I arrived at the farmer’s market, I was greeted with friendly faces, and given a permanent marker and an apron. They taught us how to make boxes and where to label them based on the farmer. We then went around asking stands how many boxes they would like to fill with fresh produce, and then we collected them. After, we weighed them and sorted based on the organization we were donating them to, and gave the boxes to the drivers! The boxes went to the Salvation Army shelters and South Bay Abolitionist Collective!
It was a total of 2 hours. We were busy the whole time and had lots of fun!
Their website: https://foodforward.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodforward/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foodforwardinc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmB801oQTRJVuFy_zqvrSng
Santa Monica Farmers Market location:
