Palos Verdes Peninsula Democratic Club

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Next meeting
When: Sunday, August 15, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Where: the Community Room of the Peninsula Center Library, 701 Silver Spur Road, RHE.
Topic: Hunger in Los Angeles County
Every week brings another story about hunger or food insecurity in Los Angeles County.

One day we read about a disabled woman going hungry because she doesn’t qualify for Food Stamps due to the fact that she receives SSI benefits ($845/per month).

Then we learn of a sharp increase in the number of Los Angeles County residents applying for Food Stamps due to the current economic woes.

A third story reports cancellation of LAUSD summer school, which leaves thousands of children who participate in the school breakfast and lunch programs without these vital meals.

The list goes on and on.

At our meeting we’ll explore various aspects of this crisis.

First, journalists Kimberly Daniels and Shannon Pence will describe California’s monumental wastefulness when it comes to food. They were part of a team of USC graduate students who authored a California Watch/Annenberg School report in April that found “weaknesses in every link of California’s food distribution chain.”

Then we’ll hear about one solution to the problem from Arlene Mercer, founder of Food Finders, Inc., Mercer started the Long Beach-based non-profit in 1989 because, according to the organization’s website, she “was concerned about the amount of food being thrown away rather than donated by local food merchants and grocers.

“Inspired to end the waste, she began forming liaisons with local vendors and seeking shelters that could use good, wholesome food to feed needy and impoverished families, children and elderly.”

Our final speaker will be Nick Ippolito, social welfare deputy to L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe, who will speak about the county’s efforts to increase the number of persons receiving Food Stamps.

The Los Angeles Regional Foodbank estimates that 1 million people in L.A. County receive food assistance. We’re not talking about hunger in the abstract in some far-off Third World country; it’s a crisis that is taking root right in our own backyard. It’s an important topic and we hope you’ll join us on Aug. 15 to learn more about it.

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