| Los Angeles Regional Foodbank |
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History
The Foodbank Story
Pasadena resident, Tony Collier, founded Los Angeles Regional Foodbank 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 feeding the hungry. Four members of the community impressed with Collier's work formed a voluntary Board of Directors to create the Foodbank.
From its beginning in a two-car garage, the Foodbank moved into a converted 2,600 square foot dry cleaning facility on Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena. In 1983, it moved to a 10,000 square foot warehouse in El Monte.
To reflect its service to all areas of Los Angeles County, the organization changed its name to Los Angeles Regional Foodbank in 1986. In 1989, Los Angeles Regional Foodbank moved to its present location: a 55,000 square foot facility specifically designed as a food bank.
The Foodbank Today
The year 2007 marks the Foodbank's 34th year of service to the residents of Los Angeles County. Over the years, the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank has grown in size, service and scope. Today the Foodbank provides food for nearly 1,000 member agency sites including abused and abandoned children homes, battered women shelters, senior centers, local food pantries, soup kitchens, AIDS hospices and more. In 2006, our volunteers, financial supporters, product donors and agency network made it possible for us to distribute nearly 40 million pounds of food for the hungry in Los Angeles county.
Mission
The mission of the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank is to mobilize resources to fight hunger in our community.
To meet our mission goals we must:
Source and acquire food and other products and distribute to needy 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.
Our vision is that no one goes hungry in Los Angeles County.
Operations
From Warehouse to Table
Food is donated to Los Angeles Regional Foodbank from local and national food manufacturers, wholesalers, supermarkets, restaurant suppliers, packers, processors and brokers. Once a shipment of food is received at our warehouse, it is sorted, inspected, and if necessary, repacked for distribution to participating charities in Los Angeles County.
We sort, inspect, repackage and distribute thousands of pounds of food each day with the help of dedicated volunteers. Last year, volunteers contributed over 58,000 hours of service.
Charities order and pick up the products they need from the Foodbank on a weekly basis. They then serve the food to needy families, children and individuals free of charge. Through these charities, over 250,000 people receive healthy meals each week.
