Recently, I started a Star Trek podcast. I immediately loved it, and I hope I never have to stop! I was extremely honored because Mr. John Billingsley agreed to be my very first guest and interview. He was of course, a laugh and a half, but aside from that, but it is his humanitarianism that fascinated me. There are so many charitable organizations out there, but Hollywood Food Coalition is very different. Not only because of what they do but the care they put into it. They not only do their work, but they work with so many other local charities, functioning as a hub and creating a community system, a safety net, for the food-insecure people of Los Angeles.
So I’ve decided to start this project to help them! I call it: Socks For Phlox!
When looking at all the information for Hollywood Food Coalition and trying to find how I could help, I found their Amazon wish list. I immediately noticed one of the things they needed most, and in the largest quantity was socks. Cue the lightbulb in my head, and Socks For Phlox was born! If you’d like to help, there are links and more information below. I also have put things on the list that I thought would also be very useful, so check it out, if you’d like to help!
The Hollywood Food Coalition (or HoFoCo for short) has one basic goal: to feed and provide for the most pertinent needs of those that come to them every night of the week. When people have their most basic needs met, they can focus their attention elsewhere and build better lives. This journey began from the humblest of beginnings- passing out sandwiches on a street corner. From this, they created what is quite possibly some of the only stability people in the LA area know. That is incredibly important, when you know where you can get a dependable meal, and maybe even a few other things to meet your immediate day-to-day needs, you’re going to show up there every day, regularly.
The stigma against homeless and underprivileged people is absolutely real and extremely unfair. Most of us are closer to being in a bad situation than we would think. Up to 40% of Americans would struggle if faced with an unexpected $400 expense. All it takes is an illness, an injury, or a flat tire and you miss work, become behind on your bills, and before you know it, you’re at risk of being on the street.
It is an extremely hard cycle to get out of, almost impossible. If you don’t seem very stable, much as you try to hide it, employers won’t want to hire you. Thus, feeds the cycle, and it extends outward and touches every aspect of your life from there. Forget about work, forget about school, forget about “free time” or relaxing. Life, every day, becomes “How am I going to survive today?” If you can’t get a job, how are you supposed to earn money to pay for a home of some kind for yourself? Should you end up on the street, it can get much, much worse from there. My compassion is endless for anyone who has ever been in a situation like that. It takes every fiber of your being to be able to keep it together and continue trying. You have to fight, every day, and it can be exhausting.
When Mr. Billingsley started talking to me about his involvement in the Hollywood Food Coalition, and how much they do for people outside of just a good meal, I was quite frankly astounded. HoFoCo has three major ways that they can meet the most important needs of those that come to them. Community Dinner is a big one out of those three! Since it began, they have not missed a single night. The COVID-19 pandemic has required some big changes to how it functions, such as making meals take-away, but they eagerly look forward to bringing a safe sit-down dinner back, and the sense of community that comes with it. Even in the midst of all of this, they’ve served a healthy meal to the community every single night for 34 years and counting. All the food they utilize for their meal services is sustainably sourced from donations that would otherwise end up wasted and in landfills.
In addition to Community Dinner, the volunteers of a group called Hang Out, Do Good partnered up with HoFoCo to distribute sack lunches. They began in March 2020, and now each Sunday the volunteers of H.O.D.G. And HoFoCo distribute thousands of bag lunches. Some days JB himself is there, helping! That’s thousands of people that are brought together every Sunday by a good meal. My favorite part about this is the volunteers take the time to decorate all of the bags. I thought that was so sweet, and it’s what caught my eye after initially learning about HoFoCo. The little things like that matter. They’re what can make that extra impact, and perhaps maybe even make someone’s bad day into a good day.
Community Exchange is the second of their three major programs. It’s a large part of how they function as a resource hub for the local community. Hollywood Food Coalition rescues and sources more from other places than they can serve their clients. As time has gone on, they’ve multiplied their abilities for food sharing and recovery. When gathering information to put all of this together, I asked Mr. Billingsley, “If there was just ONE thing you want people to know about Hollywood Food Coalition, what would it be?” Without hesitation, he told me he wanted to emphasize its goal to “continue to build a coalition of community groups who can collectively address issues surrounding food insecurity.” He also went on to say that a lot of the work of rebuilding a social safety net is dependent upon getting all of the people that do these same kinds of programs together- talking, collaborating on how to better serve the community. That’s the very definition of the word coalition.
The third program of the “Big Three”, as I’ve taken to calling it, is Community Wellness. Community Wellness was implemented to help identify and alleviate some of the most immediate needs of the clients that come to them. Each year, they distribute thousands of everything from every day clothing from shirts to shoes and socks, but they also can provide basic hygiene items and more. One of the many partnerships that HoFoCo has is with the UCLA Mobile Clinic Project. They’ve provided free medical care to guests since 2000. There’s also a UCLA Mobile Eye Clinic that comes to their location once a month!
The more I’ve learned about Hollywood Food Coalition, the more I’ve grown to care about them and all the work they do. The way they do things is so efficient. It spreads the “weight” of the community’s need across multiple agencies; so that one isn’t ever shouldering the burden alone. They give a sense of care and dignity to their guests. One that underprivileged people don’t always get. Small things can impact people's lives in big ways. And they're doing a lot of small things in BIG ways.
Hollywood Food Coalition is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization.
Go to hofoco.org/donate to donate funds directly.