The Eisner Journal

Volunteer Day at L.A. Kitchen

December 1, 2016

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On Tuesday, November 29, The Eisner Foundation team  sponsored an afternoon of service at  The L.A. Kitchen  with our  Southern California Grantmakers  colleagues. By prepping and packaging food alongside L.A. Kitchen staff and students, we helped create meals for those in need in Los Angeles.

L.A. Kitchen is one of two recipients of the 2015  Eisner Prize  in recognition of efforts to unite generations to bring about positive, lasting change in their community. L.A. Kitchen believes that neither food nor people should ever go to waste. Founded in 2013 by Robert Egger, it provides young adults aging out of foster care and older adults recently released from prison with culinary job training in a 20,000 square foot kitchen, addressing issues of unemployment, poor health, and food waste.

Their innovative approach to serving youth and the previously incarcerated while creatively and efficiently using food resources is a unique example of the inter-generational programming we seek to promote, and we were thrilled at the opportunity to showcase their impressive facility to our colleagues in the LA foundation community.

As volunteers, we worked alongside L.A. Kitchen chefs, staff, alumni, and students to prepare reclaimed fruits and vegetables that were transformed into nutritious meals for charitable partners to serve aging, low-income, and homeless populations. In just one afternoon, our group of 40 prepared 200 full meals, 150 salads, 400 healthy plantain brownies, and processed 120 gallons of produce. The following day, L.A. Kitchen distributed the food to their partners at  Homeless Health Care,  Las Familias del Pueblo, and  LA Family Housing.

See more pictures from our afternoon on our Facebook page.