TEMPLE-BEAUDRY : Group Wins $5,000 for Service Projects

The Food for All organization has awarded $5,000 to Grupo Latino Echo Park in recognition of its community service work on behalf of residents of the Temple-Beaudry and Echo Park neighborhoods.

Grupo Latino Echo Park, formed about eight months ago, combines advocacy on community issues and direct service to neighbors on tight budgets.

“We were impressed with how grass-roots they are,” said Linda Hamilton, regional director and founder of Food for All. “Their application included a compelling statement on the affect of hunger in their community, especially on children. We thought this grant would really increase their impact.”

In addition to lobbying the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for better bus service for Latino passengers and protesting the Los Angeles Unified School District’s plan to build a high school in Temple-Beaudry, the group distributed turkeys in November and toys in December to needy families.

Each year Food for All, a fund-raising and public education organization based in Redlands, presents the Nancy Chandler Award to groups working to prevent hunger in their neighborhoods, Hamilton said. The award is named for a former Lucky employee who was an anti-hunger activist and helped set up Food for All’s donation system in the chain’s supermarkets.

William J. Mavropoulos, the local group’s spokesman, said the grant will help fund four food giveaways this year. “We were planning to do the first one around Easter, but now with the earthquake we’ll have to look at the needs of the community and maybe have one sooner,” he said.

Information: (213) 250-2091 or (213) 482-1116.