I don’t know if this is daft* to admit, but I didn’t realize before this activity that there’s one main food bank that distributes to all other food banks in Los Angeles.
*No, I’m not British, but I just felt “daft” fit in that sentence. Why not?
Did you all know this concept of one main food bank?
So, I got onto the subway and made my way down there. While walking to the food bank, I felt I wasn’t perhaps in the very best neighborhood… Obviously, I wasn’t all that afraid. I choose to think the best of people. Plus, I’m all tough and strong. *determined musical theater face*
My biggest concern of the sort of dilapidated neighborhood, with practically no public places (meaning restaurants, coffee shops, libraries, etc), I really just worried dogs might be around and able to get out. It just felt like a place that would have dogs around. And is there anything scarier than a dog on the loose?
I did end up making it to the food bank without any dog attacks. (Celebratory dance music plays).
Once I got there, we all milled about outside for a bit. There was a sign that says “take pictures while you wait.” That’s cool that they were encouraging us to document the day. (I’m assuming they wanted us to tweet/instagram those pictures, though that wasn’t explicitly stated…
Once everyone had checked in, we all moved inside the big warehouse and were shown a small video. Here are some of the takeaways I found most interesting:
For every dollar donated, they distribute 4(!) meals. Is it just me, or does that seem like they’re really stretching money, y’all? I wondered if I possibly heard it wrong. But I went to the website to verify, and that’s what they say.
They also said they’ve distributed a billion pounds of food since their founding in 1973 – which is the equivalent of 800 million meals… That sounds like a lot of food to me.
They also said their ultimate mission is to go out of business. Of course that makes sense, but I thought it was still nice they put it in their video.
Then, we got to work – which is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.