FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Emergency Meal Service for City of LA’s COVID-19 Homeless Shelter Response
LOS ANGELES (March 25, 2020) – With support from Dignity Health, United Way of Greater Los Angeles partnered with the City of Los Angeles and Everytable to provide 9,000 meals for unhoused residents and those accessing the 8 temporary shelter sites that opened this past weekend as part of the City of LA’s COVID-19 response.
On any given night an estimated 27,000 unhoused residents live without shelter. Thousands of these individuals live with chronic healthy conditions and without consistent access to basic hygiene resources – making this population particularly vulnerable to the spread and life-threatening impacts of COVID-19. Food supplies from partnerships like this are essential in standing up resources like the shelters that opened up this weekend, which will allow unhoused residents to come indoors to safe and secure beds and receive critical meals at a time when charitable and other free food distribution efforts are being disrupted.
Everytable, the Los Angeles-based Public Benefit Corporation focused on food access, provided 9,000 meals to ensure shelter guests had fresh and healthy food for breakfast, lunch and dinner over the weekend (March 20-22). Meals were also utilized by outreach teams as they engaged unhoused residents and invited them inside one of the new shelters. The effort reflects Everytable’s mission to ensure that nutritious, fresh food is affordable and available to all. Dignity Health is helping to fund the project as part of its statewide effort to support the health of people struggling with homelessness.
Last week, Mayor Eric Garcetti highlighted a partnership with the City Council to use $20 million in budget reserve funds on emergency relief efforts – including a plan to to add 6,000 emergency shelter beds provided by the American Red Cross across 42 sites (8 of which open this weekend). The United Way of Greater Los Angeles last week launched thePandemic Relief Fundto support L.A. County’s unsheltered residents who are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus, and low-income individuals, students and families at imminent risk of homelessness and hardships due to health and economic impacts of coronavirus.
About Dignity Health
Dignity Health is a multi-state nonprofit network of 10,000 physicians, more than 60,000 employees, 41 acute care hospitals, and 400-plus care-centers, including community hospitals, urgent care, surgery and imaging centers, home health, and primary care clinics in Arizona, California, and Nevada. Dignity Health is dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality, and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and underserved. Dignity Health is a part of CommonSpirit Health, a nonprofit health system committed to advancing health for all people and dedicated to serving the common good. For more information, please visit our website atwww.DignityHealth.org.
About Everytable
Everytable, PBC is a mission-driven food company that fights for food justice and equality by providing healthy and nutritious food that is both accessible and affordable for everyone. Since the emergence and spread of COVID-19, Everytable has mobilized to provide food relief services for greater Los Angeles, including the opening of COVID-19 HELPLINE (323) 458 – 6487. Everytable is a multi-channel, fresh-prepared food business blending storefronts, subscriptions and SmartFridges supplied by a central kitchen with healthy meals starting at just $5 in underserved communities. For more information, please visit www.everytable.com.
About United Way of Greater Los Angeles
United Way of Greater Los Angeles is a nonprofit organization fighting to end poverty by preparing students for high school graduation, college, and the workforce, housing our homeless neighbors, and guiding hard-working families towards economic mobility. United Way identifies the root causes of poverty and works strategically to solve them by building alliances across all sectors, funding targeted programs and advocating for change. For more information, visitUnitedWayLA.org andEveryoneInLA.org.
Contacts:
Josh Kamensky, Ocean + Mountain, for United Way
(323) 326-7438, josh@oceanmo.com
Monica Rutkowski Grippo, Everytable
(847) 414-3481, monica@everytable.com
Erin Peacock, Peacock PR, for Everytable
(949) 939-1872, erin@peacock-pr.com
Chad burns, Dignity Health
(415) 813-9002