Food Distributed to 100 Community Groups

A dozen truckloads of baby food, soup and other nonperishable items were doled out to about 100 Los Angeles-area churches and community groups Thursday as part of a nationwide food giveaway.

Food distribution coordinators estimated that 175 tons of food would be given out in Los Angeles by day’s end.

Organized by Feed the Children, a nonprofit hunger and disaster relief group, the distribution effort is designed to get food donated by major corporations, such as Beechnut and Lipton, to community groups.

The local churches and agencies, in turn, distribute food to the needy in the community through pantry programs and soup kitchens.

By 10 a.m. scores of church and social workers had gathered at Crenshaw and Exposition boulevards in Southwest Los Angeles. Workers loaded up cars, borrowed pickups and rented U-Haul trucks with food.

“I’m tremendously overjoyed by the hectic activity today,” said Rev. Charles Blake, pastor of the West Angeles Church, which is building a 5,000-seat cathedral at the site of the food distribution. “We know this day will be a blessing to thousands of people.”