UNITED FOOD MOVEMENT

by Michael Douglas Carlin

         When was the last time you were hungry? Really hungry? I sat in a meeting on Friday and my stomach growled. That is the only time in recent history I have been mildly hungry. Right around us there are families that are really hungry. Many of them are hungry through no fault of their own. Some of them have made bad choices, but is that any reason to abandon them? Is that any reason not to provide them with the tools to make good choices moving forward?

Hurricane Sandy is an example of people who fell on hard times through no fault of their own. I recently met a woman, Loren Asha Tirone, who I know will change my life. She started a non-profit called United Food Movement. Her organization recycles food to those who are hungry. She collects food before it spoils and gets it into the hands of the hungry who are in our midst. When she learned about the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, she called and asked me what we were going to do to ease the pain.

I started making telephone calls. Soon, I was speaking to the District Governor of Rotary in the affected region. He had just arrived to survey the situation, and what he found was staggering. Entire communities were still underwater, and, in his own town, the shops had flooded. All of the wares inside the stores had been washed out to the streets. The mess was daunting. He was overwhelmed. I called Loren. We decided to support a boots-on-the-ground effort that the District Governor was formulating. I passed his number on to her and went about my life.

Loren thundered away in the community to let people know how they could help. She organized a number of donation boxes to receive clothing and other needed relief. She organized a two-night fundraiser to pay for the shipping to get donated relief items to New Jersey. I got a call from her on the day of the fundraiser letting me know that she expected me to show up. How could I refuse? I arrived and found her working the crowd as they entered Studio Restaurant and Lounge in Hermosa Beach. She politely asked everyone to make a contribution to this effort.

I was deeply touched by the people that dug into their pockets and made contributions to get relief shipped. I was also touched by the people that brought warm coats, shirts, new underwear, new socks, and other relief items to ease the pain of those suffering from a natural disaster that was clearly out of their control.

Berry Bly and Mike Shribnet donated their venue, Studio Restaurant and Lounge, to raise money and collect the relief items. DJ Adam Nello, who hails from the New Jersey Shore, teamed up with local Danny Olsen to collect 17 bags of clothing. Tati Souza held her own fundraiser, and I worked the door with Annie Giammarco, who many of you might know from Ummba Grill, French 75, or Toscana. Faiz Mattar also volunteered and helped get funds from the crowd. Big Lots of Hermosa Beach donated all of the boxes, and, once those boxes were packed, there was the little issue of shipping.

How many of you remember Bobby Chandran from Mail Boxes Etc. that used to be in Watt Plaza? I reached out to Bobby, and he agreed to ship all of the charity items at his cost, which is significantly lower than that of UPS. He saved us almost half of the shipping costs by donating his profit back to the cause of helping ease the suffering on the East Coast.

What came out of this is much more significant than a small relief effort. What came out of this is a team that can help ease the pain of those suffering in our own community. I would walk down any battlefield with Loren, Bobby, Faiz, and Annie. I didn't get to know all of the other participants as well, but these people have tremendous hearts. They are some of the best of humanity.

Loren has been taking food to the homeless in our community for a few years. Her story is worth noting, because you will get tremendous insight into a cause that can have a multiplier effect on the time or money that you donate. She calls her non-profit United Food Movement. This is the next movement that will feed Southern California. Loren has identified corporations that are willing to donate food to feed hungry people. These corporations will not pay for the shipping and distribution to get this food into the hands of the hungry. Loren has committed to tackle this gap and has already delivered 100,000 pounds of food into hungry hands.

She has additional commitments from corporations that she is unable to accept at this time. She needs volunteers to pick up the food and deliver these valuable relief items to shelters and other service-oriented operations that feed hungry people. Think about the number of workers who need to be up early to drive to work. Picture getting up an hour early and picking up food from a convenience store that is turning their shelves at 4 am. That food is delivered an hour later to a homeless shelter, and you arrive at work having just done something of service and perhaps an hour early to get some of that work done that will be impossible once the telephones begin to ring.

Or picture taking a single day and abstaining from eating anything. Take the money you would have spent that day and donate it to the United Food Movement to take care of transportation costs. A tank of gas might feed 500 people. That is an investment that pays in multiples. Will any of you join with me to volunteer or donate to her boots-on-the-ground non-profit?

We have all had a hand in the Sandy Relief Effort. What are we going to do in our local community? What are we going to do to ease the human suffering right in our backyard? Get on board and become involved in the United Food Movement. If only five percent of discarded food were collected and provided to the hungry, there would be no hunger in our midst. Says Loren: "We don't have a shortage of food, we have a distribution issue." The movement of food is one area that can unite us all. Join the United Food Movement!

PLEASE DONATE FUNDS, FOOD OR TIME!!!

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© 2014 Michael Douglas Carlin. All Rights Reserved.