For Los Angeles, food insecurity has not been a significant crisis, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, this problem has come to the surface. This issue has been bringing adverse diseases, but the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has brought hope by helping provide food to needy people.
The US Department of Agriculture is also contributing to ensuring the food insecurity issue does not escalate. This department has made labels to show “ranges of food security and food insecurity.” However, kids are more prone to getting diseases during such a crisis. According to Susan Gantan, MPH, Senior Program Manager of Community Affairs, almost a quarter of kids in LA are not having enough food.
As a result, they are not living a healthy life as they are supposed to. She noted that because the COVID 19 schools are not open, there are gaps in where these kids are usually fed at school. According to her, if free lunch were provided to the people, not all kids would have this benefit. Hence, the food insecurity issue would not be reducing.
Food recovery fills basic needs.
CHLA had started investigating food recovery before the pandemic. This was used as an approach to use the new food to benefit the local area. However, Coronavirus came preventing the continuation of this project.
According to Kellie Lam, Food Services Director at CHLA, his department had begun this investigation to see what they were in for. They had realized that there was food that was not being utilized. For him, this food was not being used either because of not gathering estimating assumptions, radical changes in the staff going to the emergency clinic, or fewer clients at the HBO Cafe.
During some days, there were food donations that were given to patients or emergency clinic members. If there were excess food that had been made, it was given to the community. Gantan said that they did not want food to be wasted because the community needed it. This increased the clinic donations made to Los Angeles.
Together with the local accomplices, the Children’s Hospital worked, ensuring food was distributed to those in need. Also, the Hollywood Food Coalition serves food to people who need it. This was according to Olga Taylor, the Community Relations Project Manager at CHLA.
Improving access to fresh produce
The Children’s Hospital provided food in the local area together with East Hollywood Neighborhood Council. Also, there were food events organized by the hospital’s Community Impact Champions Network. Taylor confirmed that the food was straight from the farm, hence fresh. The Children’s Hospital continued to show goodwill by sponsoring The City’s Garden at Los Angeles City College. This garden has continued to be planted and seeded and will provide fresh food to the community.
While dealing with food insecurity, Rolando Gomez, MBA, Administrator of Government and Community Affairs at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, says that these projects are not only for the poor people but also for those who lost their jobs and many other people the pandemic have affected.