Food Bank Assistance

Congratulations go to Sonia Nazario for her thorough and insightful series regarding hunger in Southern California (Nov. 20-23). It’s a painful and complex subject; she shed new light on it.

Because the series will be a reference source for some time to come, I did want to comment on some matters:

No food bank that I am aware of regularly charges handling fees for fresh produce and baked goods, which tend to be highly perishable and must be used quickly. Specifically, the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank provides nearly all produce free nearly all the time and all bread free all the time to all of its participating charities. It is not entirely accurate to state that food banks charge handling fees for breads and produce. The Los Angeles Regional Foodbank also administers a program which connects local charities with bakeries, supermarkets and the like in order to increase their access to free baked goods and other foods.

As to urban gardens, we are most grateful for the crucial role the Los Angeles Conservation Corps played in the start-up and development of the urban garden you describe as a crown jewel, as well as for the aid of Common Ground, in donations of free seeds and copious amounts of free soil amendments.

But this urban garden was begun with the help of Wendy Greuel of then-Mayor Tom Bradley’s staff and has always been administered by the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. The Foodbank leafleted community members to inform them of the garden’s availability, raises money to sustain it, pays for water and a staff member who is the liaison between the gardeners and the Foodbank, and welcomes every opportunity to show others what can be done with unused, government-owned land in low-income communities.

We are grateful for the help of many community-based organizations, public entities and private businesses for their part in making the garden such a success.

Some people have surrendered to the belief that there will always be poverty. Thus, they view hunger, a symptom of poverty, as a tired old issue. Nazario has shown that many people will not accept hunger as inevitable. Thank you for spotlighting many facets of the problem and the new approaches to help those struggling with tragic circumstances.

DORIS BLOCH

Executive Director

Los Angeles Regional Foodbank