Guide to Filling Empty Cupboards in Your Region
Five Easy Ways Your Food Pantry Can Strengthen Hunger Relief Efforts Your Community
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- DPSS District Office Community Meetings
- Advocacy
Five Easy Ways Your Food Pantry Can Strengthen Hunger Relief Efforts Your CommunityConnect with your local food stamp office. Visit your local office Get to know your local DPSS staff: the district director, deputy director, and advocate liaison are all important contacts for you and your clients. These contacts can begin a working relationship with the office. Work to make the food stamp office a less intimidating place for your clients. Attend your local food stamp office community meeting Locations and contact information are found on the next page Recognize and reward strong food stamp offices or particular workers Participate in Outreach Efforts. Work with other local hunger relief agencies and your local food stamp office to increase targeted food stamp outreach efforts in your community. For more effective outreach, target your efforts toward identified, underserved populations (i.e. seniors, immigrants, and working families) Promote Food Stamps to your clients as a nutrition program rather than a welfare program. Many clients have a negative impression of the Food Stamp Program, in part because they inaccurately believe it is a part of the welfare system. With the introduction of California Advantage Card and with new legislative changes making it easier for families to apply, the program is changing. Food stamps are a way for low-income families to meet their nutritional needs and should be utilized by your clients for this purpose. Bring food stamps directly to your clients. Consider partnering with other organizations to bring a DPSS food stamp eligibility worker on-site at a local pantry. For many clients, transportation is a barrier to reaching the DPSS office. A successful pilot program currently exists at SOVA Food Pantry in Tarzana connecting a food stamp eligibility worker with pantry clients once a week on site. DPSS is thinking of expanding this program. Encouragement and interest from local pantries willing to host the program will be very helpful in bringing along this needed change. Participating pantries are responsible for the outreach and physical location, and the DPSS office provides the county worker to take applications. Join a hunger coalition in your area. If one does not exist, think about starting one. Meeting with other hunger relief groups in your community can help to more efficiently meet the needs of your clients. Benefits of meeting regularly with other food pantries and community advocates include: Coordination of distribution times to meet community needs Coordination of target client populations to meet the needs of all low-income people in your community (i.e. seniors) Share ideas, frustrations and solutions to common problems Get involved in advocacy for positive change Split food transportation costs (i.e. truck rental) with other small nearby pantries DPSS District Office Community MeetingsEast and West Valley: 3rd Tuesday of the Month For location contact: (818) 901-4101 Glendale: Every other month, 3rd Tuesday of the month For location contact: Paz Cruz: (818) 546-6307 San Fernando: For location and times contact: (818) 837-2140 El Monte and San Gabriel Valley: Last Wednesday of every month For location contact: Debbie Heinemann (626) 569-3612 Pasadena: 4th Thursday of every month (except for July, August, November, and December) For location and times contact: Silvia Gonzales (626) 791- 6302 Pomona: For location and times contact: Susanne Portillo (909) 397-7902 Wilshire Special, Metro North: 1:30 PM every 3rd Tuesday of each month (except for December, June, July, and September) For location and times contact: Bernice Westbury 213-639-5404 or Elizabeth Becerra (213) 738-4301
Held at West Los Angeles Office For location and times contact: Americo Garza (310) 312-5110
Held at alternating locations between South Central and Florence For location contact: Melva Rogers (323) 563-4156
Held at Red Cross, 610 N Eucalyptus Inglewood, CA For location contact: Marnette Haynes (323) 418 2202 Barbara Thomas (310) 665-7500 Quad (Exposition Park, Metro Special, Metro Family, Civic Center): Every 2nd Tuesday of the Month held at alternating locations among four offices Contact: Cheryl Sanders (323) 730-6188 or call the Admin Desk at any of four offices
Location rotates among three offices For location contact: Alice Andrade (323) 260-3718
For location and times contact: Charlie Arce (310) 603-5287 31,7 South Family: 1st Tuesday of every month beginning in April For location contact: (310) 761-2000 AdvocacyAdvocacy is another important way you can work to eliminate hunger in your community. Advocacy simply means speaking up, making your voice heard and sharing your client's stories. Recent victories in hunger advocacy in Los Angeles County, such as changes in food stamp eligibility, were achieved through the work of local food pantries and advocates working together for hungry families Each year there are dozens of important decisions made about nutrition programs in Washington D.C., Sacramento and in downtown Los Angeles. By getting involved, you can make sure your voice and the voice of the families you serve are heard by your elected officials when they vote about hunger. Several organizations are ready to work with you and your clients to contact your local elected officials. We have organized this into three easy steps. 1) Identify your local representatives City Council: See Council Map or visit: www.lacity.org/council.htm State Assembly: See your SPA elected official list or visit: www.assembly.ca.gov State Senate: See your SPA elected official list or visit: www.sen.ca.gov Find legislators by zip code: www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html 2) Take a look at the current issues under debate in Washington, Sacramento and Los Angeles. Several local partners track hunger and nutrition legislation: - Los Angeles Regional Foodbank action steps are available at: www.lafightshunger.org - California Food Policy Advocates offers a variety of updates and action steps at: www.cfpa.net - Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness provides updates at: www.lacehh.org 3) Visit your elected officials. The process is much easier than you think. For a few tips visit: www.cfpa.net/advocate.html. The three organizations listed above are ready to assist with legislative meetings. Have fun! |
