1
00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:04,160
Speaker 1: Previously on wi an House.

2
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:06,960
Speaker 2: My name is Jillian.

3
00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:11,560
Speaker 3: I am the Lived Experience engagement advisor where my dog

4
00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:14,400
Speaker 3: is my home. I'm also a person with lived experience

5
00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:17,840
Speaker 3: of homelessness. I've also lost my pets due to homelessness.

6
00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:21,360
Speaker 3: My landlords were a couple. They were going through something.

7
00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:23,720
Speaker 3: I went out with one of the landlords one night

8
00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,240
Speaker 3: with our kids and I came back in the mouth.

9
00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:31,960
Speaker 3: He was drunk and jealous that we went out and said,

10
00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:34,239
Speaker 3: I want you to leave my house. Though, I had

11
00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:37,280
Speaker 3: to scramble and find housing, find whatever I could, so

12
00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,280
Speaker 3: I ended up having to go into shelter with my

13
00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:43,680
Speaker 3: daughter and put my cats into foster. But you know

14
00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,000
Speaker 3: now Warehouse and we have.

15
00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:46,879
Speaker 2: Two new babies.

16
00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:49,640
Speaker 3: I'm living my best life now thanks to my Doug

17
00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:50,200
Speaker 3: is my home.

18
00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:06,560
Speaker 4: Welcome to Wiedian House. I'm your host, Theo Henderson. This week,

19
00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:10,559
Speaker 4: it's just one episode on the developing story of food

20
00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:14,440
Speaker 4: in security in Los Angeles and the many ways that

21
00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:20,679
Speaker 4: organization and people are tackling it. But first on House News,

22
00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:27,160
Speaker 4: our first story Wiedian House is remembering the life of

23
00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,120
Speaker 4: reclaimer Joseph David.

24
00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:30,839
Speaker 1: De la Oh.

25
00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:35,080
Speaker 4: Joseph was one of the few remaining reclaimers. The reclaimers

26
00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:40,800
Speaker 4: were finding unoccupied places and occupying them during the pandemic.

27
00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,240
Speaker 4: I just want to give some historical context on that movement.

28
00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:47,720
Speaker 4: The reclaimer movement sprang out of a severe need for

29
00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,720
Speaker 4: housing and a need to combat the pernicious narrative and

30
00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:56,040
Speaker 4: stereotype about unhoused people. Many people, even some of my

31
00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,480
Speaker 4: own close friends, believe unhoused people like being out on

32
00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:05,800
Speaker 4: the street, are lazy and criminals or other negative stereotypes. Reclaimers,

33
00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:09,880
Speaker 4: like Joseph, Martha Ruby, Benito, to name a few.

34
00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,720
Speaker 1: Did not fit the mode.

35
00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,040
Speaker 4: Many had health issues and other limitations that did not

36
00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,480
Speaker 4: fit the common narratives we hear about on house people.

37
00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:23,720
Speaker 4: Joseph passed away on January twenty seventh, twenty twenty six,

38
00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:27,799
Speaker 4: at the age of sixty three. He is survived by

39
00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,919
Speaker 4: his daughters, Alissa de la O and Vanessa de la O.

40
00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:39,560
Speaker 4: Our next story takes us out to the Altadena ERAa

41
00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:43,200
Speaker 4: in Los Angeles. The Altadena residents, many of whom were

42
00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:47,880
Speaker 4: impacted by last year's fires, are being targeted by the

43
00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:52,360
Speaker 4: Los Angeles County Parking Enforcement. I've stated this many times

44
00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:54,799
Speaker 4: on the show, how easy it is to become on

45
00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,560
Speaker 4: housed and displaced. The same neighbors that you had while

46
00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:00,880
Speaker 4: you were housed, and I was the ones that are

47
00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,960
Speaker 4: calling to complain and have you remove from the neighborhood.

48
00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:09,400
Speaker 4: Derrick Collins currently resides in an RV encampment outside of

49
00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:14,320
Speaker 4: his home. He claims that parking enforcement is harassment. He

50
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:16,880
Speaker 4: is trying to get his life together and says, you

51
00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,120
Speaker 4: think I want to be on the street. Derick collins

52
00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,680
Speaker 4: home was impacted by the fires and deemed unlivable. The

53
00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,840
Speaker 4: Collins family states that they are dealing with mounting legal

54
00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,240
Speaker 4: and financial hurdles to get back into their home. The

55
00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:38,320
Speaker 4: fines and tickets are an added Burton. Our last story

56
00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,800
Speaker 4: is to make the audience think what could possibly go wrong?

57
00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:47,120
Speaker 4: I'll start the story here. Can artificial intelligence help medical

58
00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:49,360
Speaker 4: professionals treat unhoused patients?

59
00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:51,680
Speaker 1: What does it look like? Well?

60
00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:56,040
Speaker 4: A Kibo lab in Los Angeles based company plans to

61
00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:59,560
Speaker 4: use an AI model it developed on unhoused patients in

62
00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:00,400
Speaker 4: the Bay Area.

63
00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:04,320
Speaker 1: How does this work? Well, I'm glad you asked.

64
00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:08,720
Speaker 4: Scope AI is the model that will help non medically

65
00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:15,000
Speaker 4: trained outreach workers to conduct intake diagnosis processes. But wait,

66
00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:19,240
Speaker 4: there's horn the two generates questions that workers ask patients.

67
00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,680
Speaker 4: The AI will listen to the answers, record and transcribe

68
00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:30,800
Speaker 4: the interview and suggest diagnosis, medical tests, and medication. What

69
00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:35,720
Speaker 4: could possibly go wrong? Well, let's say that I have diabetes.

70
00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:39,120
Speaker 4: I may have an allergy to a medication they don't

71
00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:43,279
Speaker 4: know about, or might be taking another medication that interacts

72
00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:48,400
Speaker 4: poorly with the medication they suggest. Is the AI factoring

73
00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,599
Speaker 4: in my racial background or medical history? For example, I

74
00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,320
Speaker 4: was stabbed a few years ago. A doctor would be

75
00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:58,159
Speaker 4: able to see the scar and ask about it. How

76
00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:00,480
Speaker 4: would the AI know to ask about this?

77
00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:01,920
Speaker 1: Again?

78
00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:07,080
Speaker 4: I asked what could possibly go wrong? And that Sun

79
00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:13,200
Speaker 4: House News. When we come back, I speak with Ournlli

80
00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:17,960
Speaker 4: Ray from the Hollywood Food Coalition and Sarah Rays from

81
00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:26,880
Speaker 4: Sela Neighborhood Homeless Coalition. Welcome back to Weedian House. I'm

82
00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:31,560
Speaker 4: THEO Henderson. This week we're joined by our Nolli Ray

83
00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:35,280
Speaker 4: from the hollywoods Food Coalition and Sarah Rays from Sela

84
00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:39,599
Speaker 4: Neighborhood Homeless Coalition to talk about the complexities of food

85
00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,600
Speaker 4: insecurity and how they are adapting to an ever volow

86
00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:47,080
Speaker 4: to climate. Let's jump into our conversation with our Nalli

87
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:54,560
Speaker 4: and Sarah. I have to explain guests on that's going

88
00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,120
Speaker 4: to talk about a subject that's very near and dear

89
00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:01,360
Speaker 4: to my heart and my focus as of late, food insecurity,

90
00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:05,400
Speaker 4: the intersections that lies in with the food and secure housing,

91
00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:09,560
Speaker 4: secure communities that are going to be touched by how

92
00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:13,880
Speaker 4: this Trump regime has been targeting poor people, vulnerable people

93
00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:18,159
Speaker 4: and in the most horrific, sadistic manner. President Trump is

94
00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:20,560
Speaker 4: one of the only presidents that I ever heard of

95
00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:25,960
Speaker 4: that actually sued people that were on snap benefits to

96
00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,719
Speaker 4: prevent him from feeding them, prevent him from trying to

97
00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:30,799
Speaker 4: service the community.

98
00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:32,120
Speaker 1: As of Lake.

99
00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:35,440
Speaker 4: This is an individual that is trying to make a

100
00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:38,080
Speaker 4: mountain out of a mohill and trying to say that

101
00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:41,240
Speaker 4: it is beset with fraud, is trying to use all

102
00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:46,960
Speaker 4: of the stereotypical dog whistles to justify cruelty, and cruelty

103
00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,240
Speaker 4: is definitely a point. But I have two guests then today,

104
00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:52,960
Speaker 4: I have Sarah and I have a Knowlly, and I

105
00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:55,440
Speaker 4: want to talk to them about their experiences and what

106
00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,279
Speaker 4: are they seeing on the ground and what insights that

107
00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,719
Speaker 4: they can offer at the moment without further Ado welcome.

108
00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:03,680
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having us.

109
00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,760
Speaker 5: Yeah, I am so excited actually to be able to

110
00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:09,520
Speaker 5: introduce Analie to you.

111
00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:09,960
Speaker 2: THEO.

112
00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:12,280
Speaker 5: I think it is well past time that you two

113
00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:14,600
Speaker 5: meet each other. So yeah, I'm Sarah Rayis. I'm the

114
00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,200
Speaker 5: executive director of SELA, a neighborhood homeless coalition. We are

115
00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:21,560
Speaker 5: a volunteer powered outreach organization in Northeast LA, and one

116
00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:24,280
Speaker 5: of the things that we do is connect with people

117
00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:28,240
Speaker 5: who are unhoused in LA and trying to connect with services.

118
00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:31,000
Speaker 5: As you know better than anyone, how challenging that can be.

119
00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:34,920
Speaker 5: So everything from both providing immediate material aid to helping

120
00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:40,280
Speaker 5: someone navigate the really intense administrative process of connecting sustainably

121
00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:44,120
Speaker 5: to a program like the SNAP program, right, And one

122
00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:48,440
Speaker 5: of the ironically, the one of the main barriers to

123
00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:53,840
Speaker 5: navigating a complex administrative program like SNAP is hunger. Because

124
00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,920
Speaker 5: if you are facing extreme hunger, you are not going

125
00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,560
Speaker 5: to be able to sit down and say, Hi, I

126
00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:01,760
Speaker 5: need to get an ID, I need to fill out

127
00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,320
Speaker 5: an application, I need to regulate myself in this moment,

128
00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:07,320
Speaker 5: like You're just not going to be able to do that.

129
00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:12,480
Speaker 5: So Anali is my absolute like ride or die partner.

130
00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,440
Speaker 5: We would not be able to do anything without Hollywood

131
00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:17,760
Speaker 5: Food Coalition, So Annali, I will let you take it

132
00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:18,000
Speaker 5: from me.

133
00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,800
Speaker 6: Oh, thanks so much, Sarah, before I talk about our

134
00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:24,120
Speaker 6: organization and kind of what we're doing over there, like

135
00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:28,520
Speaker 6: it is wonderful to be in partnership with great partners

136
00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:32,080
Speaker 6: like CELA and other orgs because we have a very

137
00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:34,480
Speaker 6: similar mindset and the way in our approach and how

138
00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:38,040
Speaker 6: we work with people who come to our programs and honestly,

139
00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:42,520
Speaker 6: like it gives me optimism like communities where it's at right, Like,

140
00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,719
Speaker 6: I can't do this without like minded people who are

141
00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:49,439
Speaker 6: all working on these problems together because they're massive problems.

142
00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:52,559
Speaker 6: But you know, as Sarah was mentioning, and my name

143
00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:55,600
Speaker 6: is Anali Ray. I've been the executive director here at

144
00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:58,439
Speaker 6: Hollywood Food Coalition for a little bit over three years.

145
00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:01,960
Speaker 6: Previous to that, I was at Subond Community Clinic, which

146
00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,319
Speaker 6: is a community health center, and I did a lot

147
00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:08,160
Speaker 6: of work around marginalized communities there. So you know, I

148
00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:11,440
Speaker 6: think for me, my family's from India and you know,

149
00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,600
Speaker 6: grew up in a lot of poverty and so you know,

150
00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:18,800
Speaker 6: like a lot of immigrant families moving here for opportunity,

151
00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:22,200
Speaker 6: and I was just kind of dumbfounded by seeing how

152
00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:24,720
Speaker 6: much poverty there was and how much wealth there is.

153
00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:27,800
Speaker 6: And to me, when I came to Hollyod Food Coalition,

154
00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:29,840
Speaker 6: I'm like, well, this seems like an easy problem, Like

155
00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,640
Speaker 6: we've got an over abundance of food and we've got

156
00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:36,160
Speaker 6: people who are hungry, Like we should absolutely be able

157
00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:39,440
Speaker 6: to feed people, right and obviously like that's not the case.

158
00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,440
Speaker 6: But you know, this organization is incredible. It's been around

159
00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,800
Speaker 6: for three decades. We started in nineteen eighty seven, a

160
00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:48,400
Speaker 6: coalition in neighbors getting together saying they want to feed

161
00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:52,120
Speaker 6: their community, and all volunteer run for three decades, and

162
00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,880
Speaker 6: then over the last five years we've started to hire

163
00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:59,160
Speaker 6: on employees because we essentially feed people seven days a week,

164
00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:01,560
Speaker 6: three hundred and sixty five days a year, so we

165
00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,280
Speaker 6: want to make sure that we have consistency. We use

166
00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:08,280
Speaker 6: all recovered food, so food that would otherwise get wasted

167
00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:11,320
Speaker 6: to make these meals. And just to give you a

168
00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,040
Speaker 6: scale of the number of meals that we do this year,

169
00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,600
Speaker 6: we're over one hundred thousand meals and we think that

170
00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:19,920
Speaker 6: that number will go and rise. But I love our program,

171
00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:22,640
Speaker 6: our community dinner. We have a professional chef who runs

172
00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:25,559
Speaker 6: our kitchen. He worked at a Michelin Star restaurant, work

173
00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,040
Speaker 6: at really like high end restaurants, but wanted to come

174
00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:31,600
Speaker 6: back and do something for the community. And we're so

175
00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:34,560
Speaker 6: grateful that our chef, Colin is here and has a

176
00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:39,000
Speaker 6: wonderful team, and so we provide these really delicious, wholesome,

177
00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,880
Speaker 6: nutritious meal and we make sure that there's dignity and choice,

178
00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,760
Speaker 6: so we offer options so that people can choose. And

179
00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:49,960
Speaker 6: unfortunately we're still like doing a to go service, but

180
00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,319
Speaker 6: we traditionally used to do a sit down meal, which

181
00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:54,680
Speaker 6: is what we're hoping to get back to do. A

182
00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:57,439
Speaker 6: couple other things I'll just quickly mention is we also

183
00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:01,160
Speaker 6: have a food rescue a hub program. During COVID, we

184
00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,120
Speaker 6: had all these businesses that were closing down and instead

185
00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:06,360
Speaker 6: of throwing out the food, they said, you know, let's

186
00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:08,560
Speaker 6: donate this to the Hollywood Food Closure, which we were

187
00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,559
Speaker 6: happy to do. And at the same time, we had

188
00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:13,440
Speaker 6: businesses who were reaching out to us saying, how do

189
00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,960
Speaker 6: we start a food program, And so essentially we started

190
00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:20,239
Speaker 6: collecting all the food and sharing it with our partners,

191
00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:23,280
Speaker 6: Sela being one of them. So now we have over

192
00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:26,760
Speaker 6: one hundred and seventy organizations in our network, ranging from

193
00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:31,760
Speaker 6: faith based organizations to wonderful organizations like SILA, to mutual

194
00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,600
Speaker 6: aid groups, and so we all get to work together

195
00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,320
Speaker 6: on this beautiful thing and we get food from all

196
00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:40,679
Speaker 6: different types of businesses and so that really is kind

197
00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:43,120
Speaker 6: of like us in a nutshell, you know. And it's

198
00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:47,040
Speaker 6: been an incredibly hard year, you know, we're seeing our

199
00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:51,320
Speaker 6: groups being marginalized even more. To me, it feels like

200
00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,400
Speaker 6: food is like a basic necessity, but not everybody shares

201
00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:58,240
Speaker 6: that value. But again, we have so many great groups

202
00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:01,640
Speaker 6: like CELA, different groups that do so large services to us,

203
00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:05,040
Speaker 6: which is providing that community and connection. And so I'm

204
00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:07,800
Speaker 6: really just grateful for these groups that all are getting together.

205
00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:09,560
Speaker 6: But that's kind of us in a nutshell.

206
00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:12,840
Speaker 5: So that context of ANNUALI and like where she sits,

207
00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,480
Speaker 5: I think is so important in the context of what's

208
00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:20,319
Speaker 5: happened with the snap benefits being cut off and what

209
00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:25,160
Speaker 5: you're saying THEO, because that is in a best case scenario,

210
00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:28,840
Speaker 5: the intricacy that she just described of what has to

211
00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:34,079
Speaker 5: go into feeding LA in the best case scenario, right,

212
00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:38,640
Speaker 5: that's with benefits that is with everything quote unquote working.

213
00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:41,360
Speaker 5: That is how much rescue has to go on the

214
00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:43,880
Speaker 5: seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days

215
00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:46,600
Speaker 5: a year program she's talking about running, that is with

216
00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:51,480
Speaker 5: benefits in place. When things got cut off, I cannot

217
00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:54,400
Speaker 5: tell you how scary that was. I cannot tell you

218
00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,600
Speaker 5: like what that meant for our community because that's in

219
00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:01,880
Speaker 5: the best case scenario ended up happening and Anali sitting,

220
00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:03,720
Speaker 5: you know, she said, she sits within like one hundred

221
00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:05,000
Speaker 5: and seventy organizations.

222
00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:07,199
Speaker 2: Hollywood Food Coalition.

223
00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:12,440
Speaker 5: Responded in an instant by collecting information and was just like,

224
00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:16,320
Speaker 5: here's what's happening. Here's what we know, because that's the

225
00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,200
Speaker 5: other thing that happens, as you know, it's misinformation left

226
00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:21,880
Speaker 5: and right. It's this is happening, and this is happening,

227
00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:24,520
Speaker 5: or this isn't happening, and then five minutes later it is.

228
00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:28,520
Speaker 5: And so a Nali was in meeting after meeting, she

229
00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:30,280
Speaker 5: was in the rooms that none of us could be in,

230
00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:33,240
Speaker 5: and she was sharing information with all of the people

231
00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:35,760
Speaker 5: that she shares food with. So you know, she's usually

232
00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:38,760
Speaker 5: out here spreading all the food and then instead she

233
00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,600
Speaker 5: was she was bringing us together and sharing information, and

234
00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:43,960
Speaker 5: she was calling meetings and she was telling us where

235
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,640
Speaker 5: we needed to be, what we needed to be prepared for.

236
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,240
Speaker 5: And then we, in turn, organizations like myself, were able

237
00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:53,680
Speaker 5: to just pass that information on to people who were

238
00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:56,200
Speaker 5: coming to us and rightfully saying like, well, you know,

239
00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:59,000
Speaker 5: I heard someone told me and I was looking online,

240
00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:01,960
Speaker 5: and we were able to say definitively one way or another,

241
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,720
Speaker 5: this is the truth right now. That might change, but

242
00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:10,040
Speaker 5: in the meantime we are here for you. That won't change.

243
00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:12,000
Speaker 5: This is what we know, and we will continue to

244
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:15,720
Speaker 5: share information with you. We were able to be clear, consistent,

245
00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:18,280
Speaker 5: and reliable and that was made possible for groups like

246
00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:22,040
Speaker 5: us because a Gnollie and Hollywood Food Coalition was already

247
00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,840
Speaker 5: at the center of this food focused network and they

248
00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:27,080
Speaker 5: activated in a whole new way. It was just like

249
00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:29,359
Speaker 5: it was incredible to see.

250
00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:32,440
Speaker 6: Well, you know, we helped each other, right because at

251
00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,080
Speaker 6: the end of the day, like you know, I'm doing

252
00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,800
Speaker 6: this one thing, and then it's like great because Cela's

253
00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:42,040
Speaker 6: putting together talking points for our guests and our clients,

254
00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:46,320
Speaker 6: and that misinformation because as you know, like it just

255
00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,280
Speaker 6: starts to snowball and people get into panic, and so

256
00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:51,400
Speaker 6: what we were able to do is make sure that

257
00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,360
Speaker 6: we're all sharing the same information, keeping them updated while

258
00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,640
Speaker 6: continuing to provide the meal. So like it's like essentially

259
00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,440
Speaker 6: creating like the safety net, right and making sure that

260
00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:04,720
Speaker 6: we work together. But very very thankful for Cilia also

261
00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:07,720
Speaker 6: like leaning into that space and like making sure that

262
00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,560
Speaker 6: people were getting consistent information because you know, that's sort

263
00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:14,120
Speaker 6: of above and beyond what everybody's doing, but like it's

264
00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,160
Speaker 6: it's the right thing to do for our community.

265
00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:21,320
Speaker 4: It didn't make it easier because how the conversation started

266
00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:23,840
Speaker 4: off with them attacking Snap. And I'm going to just

267
00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:27,760
Speaker 4: face my experience with how I use NAP. Most people

268
00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:32,240
Speaker 4: that are using Snap is using it as a secondary

269
00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:34,600
Speaker 4: or complement to your way, and they are using it

270
00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,800
Speaker 4: as a bridge until things get a little bit better

271
00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,960
Speaker 4: or things you can get food that you choose. Now,

272
00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:45,960
Speaker 4: add to the equation that you're un housed and you're

273
00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:49,120
Speaker 4: trying to use Snap, now there are different certain things

274
00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:51,200
Speaker 4: that you have to be careful and in light of

275
00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:55,240
Speaker 4: what some states are using bands or sugar bands or

276
00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:59,000
Speaker 4: junk food bands to demonize on house people from having

277
00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:00,920
Speaker 4: you know, chips or whatever.

278
00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:02,120
Speaker 1: But the point of.

279
00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:05,680
Speaker 4: It is is that not understanding how you're going to

280
00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,280
Speaker 4: affect and harm. Let's look at it. And I want

281
00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:10,480
Speaker 4: to point this out because I get so irritated. I

282
00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,880
Speaker 4: had a friend of mine that mother made an insulting

283
00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,000
Speaker 4: comment and they made an insulting comic about steak and

284
00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:20,080
Speaker 4: lobsters and things about people on to now, and I

285
00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:23,320
Speaker 4: want to be clear. During the pandemic, people don't understand

286
00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:26,280
Speaker 4: I got steaks for five dollars. You think I'm going

287
00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:29,440
Speaker 4: to overlook the steaks that was on five dollars at

288
00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:31,760
Speaker 4: John's or Vond's that we're serving that.

289
00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:33,960
Speaker 1: Of course not. I'm going to eat those steaks.

290
00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:36,400
Speaker 4: And the fact of the matter is like from having

291
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:40,520
Speaker 4: dignity of choice or the autonomy, because I would rather

292
00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,840
Speaker 4: have a solid, more solid meal if I could be

293
00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:46,840
Speaker 4: in a place to cook it conversely than having to

294
00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:50,480
Speaker 4: constantly eat peanut butter and jellous. And I say this

295
00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:54,080
Speaker 4: because I don't think sometimes people understand if you're having

296
00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:56,920
Speaker 4: health issues or diabetic, you can't have all that sugar.

297
00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:01,040
Speaker 4: And if you're not regulated it correctly, you know, maybe

298
00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:03,200
Speaker 4: that what Peter but Joe said was just going to

299
00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:05,560
Speaker 4: send you on the on the wings, and that's not

300
00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:07,560
Speaker 4: gonna be the wings out here. You're gonna be up

301
00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,400
Speaker 4: somewhere else because you can't regulate your sugar, you can't

302
00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,800
Speaker 4: regulate your things of that. The second complication that I

303
00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:19,320
Speaker 4: saw that people admit is that when you start doing

304
00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:22,919
Speaker 4: the bands, you have to realize some stores are going

305
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:24,520
Speaker 4: to honor it, or some stores are not going to

306
00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:26,919
Speaker 4: honor it or just gonna shut down. And now that

307
00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:29,160
Speaker 4: puts you into a quandary. Now you got to find

308
00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,679
Speaker 4: the stores that's going to honor stamp or EBT, because

309
00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:34,280
Speaker 4: not all places honor that.

310
00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:35,720
Speaker 1: If you have the.

311
00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:39,359
Speaker 4: Hot food program, then you have another complex because during

312
00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:42,680
Speaker 4: the pandemic they had shut down all the stores and restaurants,

313
00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:47,040
Speaker 4: So you are basically asked out because you can't find

314
00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:48,520
Speaker 4: a place to sit down and have a hot meal.

315
00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:52,120
Speaker 4: And then when you're going into the stores, people were

316
00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:54,560
Speaker 4: hoarding food and you were not able to get it.

317
00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:58,399
Speaker 4: So that if you have health complications or different things,

318
00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:01,119
Speaker 4: who has the time to be un housed to go

319
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,280
Speaker 4: all across the city to find the appropriate place to

320
00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:08,000
Speaker 4: find food for themselves. So when this happened with the

321
00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:12,600
Speaker 4: Trump administration started targeting snap again, it brought back all

322
00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,840
Speaker 4: of those things, those questions because now on house people

323
00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:18,560
Speaker 4: are in a limbo. They don't know if it's going

324
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:20,520
Speaker 4: to be they're going to get the money, and if

325
00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:22,320
Speaker 4: they don't get the money, then they got to make

326
00:18:22,359 --> 00:18:24,879
Speaker 4: some moves. They got to find the food banks, They

327
00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:26,800
Speaker 4: got to find the places that's gonna feed them.

328
00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:27,720
Speaker 1: Like let's say a DAMP.

329
00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,320
Speaker 4: If you're downtown and they serve food at a certain

330
00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:32,840
Speaker 4: time and your snap benefits and I kick it off,

331
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:34,760
Speaker 4: then you're going to have to make a plan to

332
00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,439
Speaker 4: get downtown to eat, or you have to find in

333
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:40,240
Speaker 4: Santa Monica they're doing sandwiches on this day or whatever.

334
00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:43,760
Speaker 4: Then you have to make a whole upheaval of schedules.

335
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,960
Speaker 4: And those conversations are not always elucidated to people that

336
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,600
Speaker 4: are housed or sitting on CNN because they don't give

337
00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,440
Speaker 4: it Damp, they're just looking at the poor, poor families

338
00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:55,200
Speaker 4: that are housed.

339
00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:56,840
Speaker 1: Then they having those challenges.

340
00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,959
Speaker 6: I mean, I think that's why other organizations have started

341
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:05,720
Speaker 6: to provide meals. Right, Like it's complicated because people can't

342
00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:08,280
Speaker 6: get around to only the food programs, right. So like

343
00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:11,680
Speaker 6: the fact that you know seel on Hollywod Food Coalition.

344
00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:14,120
Speaker 6: We share clients, right, we have mutual guests that come

345
00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:15,880
Speaker 6: to you know, both of our services.

346
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:16,120
Speaker 5: Right.

347
00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:20,480
Speaker 6: I think organizations felt that motivations and like, there's already

348
00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:22,440
Speaker 6: so many challenges. How do we make it a little

349
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:25,560
Speaker 6: bit easier for folks? Right, it's by providing meals, But

350
00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:27,920
Speaker 6: there are a lot of complications that come up, which

351
00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:30,480
Speaker 6: is why, like, you know, we are happy to do

352
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,160
Speaker 6: this with our community because you know, to build an

353
00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,680
Speaker 6: infrastructure to like store food, to like have all these regulations.

354
00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:40,119
Speaker 6: And Sarah, it would be great for us to highlight

355
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,320
Speaker 6: that story about you know, your volunteers and how they're

356
00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,880
Speaker 6: preparing food and how that sometimes can take away from

357
00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,720
Speaker 6: doing some of the other important work that we're doing.

358
00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:50,320
Speaker 3: You know.

359
00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:52,439
Speaker 6: I think we're all trying to figure out how we

360
00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,399
Speaker 6: fit in the ecosystem and who does what so that

361
00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:57,960
Speaker 6: we can all do our best work and really help

362
00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,000
Speaker 6: meet our clients' needs, don't you think, Sarah?

363
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,080
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, And I think one of the things in

364
00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:07,399
Speaker 5: Nali's speaking to here is there has a tendency sometimes

365
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:11,480
Speaker 5: in responding to crises, and I think most nonprofits, most

366
00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:15,159
Speaker 5: charities even pop up in response to what is fundamentally

367
00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:18,800
Speaker 5: a societal crisis. Like it starts in response to crises

368
00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,480
Speaker 5: and then sometimes they just sort of keep going and

369
00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:23,879
Speaker 5: keep going, right. It starts in response to poverty, it

370
00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:26,879
Speaker 5: starts in response to abuse, it starts in response to homelessness,

371
00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:30,000
Speaker 5: and so you know, a Nale's organization started in response

372
00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,359
Speaker 5: to hunger, and my organization started in response to the

373
00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:34,919
Speaker 5: fact that there are these massive geographic regions with just

374
00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,360
Speaker 5: service gaps for people who are experiencing homelessness that could.

375
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:39,720
Speaker 2: Be filled by just everyday neighbors.

376
00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:43,080
Speaker 5: And so one of the things that our organization is

377
00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:47,160
Speaker 5: facing is that the food prep and food storage and

378
00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:50,400
Speaker 5: food like I said, is like is that first barrier

379
00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:54,600
Speaker 5: is a huge need, is a huge lift. Anale's entire

380
00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:58,479
Speaker 5: organization exists to address it, Like it is so big

381
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,640
Speaker 5: that it has whole organisations. I actually myself come out

382
00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,959
Speaker 5: of food and security at the international level, and so

383
00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:09,199
Speaker 5: that being something that my organization takes on ends up

384
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,399
Speaker 5: taking away from some of our other work. And so

385
00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,080
Speaker 5: Anali is working to come in and help us partner

386
00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,560
Speaker 5: in some ways to provide that service. Whereas then my organization,

387
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:22,320
Speaker 5: when the snap pause happened almost immediately our volunteers were

388
00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:26,000
Speaker 5: able to because food was like coming into our program

389
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:29,520
Speaker 5: through all these other organizations. We were able to start

390
00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,360
Speaker 5: collecting all those food banks that you're talking about, all

391
00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:36,040
Speaker 5: those food resources almost overnight, and I think like within

392
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,520
Speaker 5: hours of information, our volunteers were sitting there just like

393
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:43,640
Speaker 5: calling food banks, calling every single program and saying are

394
00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:45,760
Speaker 5: you open, what are your hours, who are you serving,

395
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,400
Speaker 5: what are you serving, what are the bus lines close

396
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:50,800
Speaker 5: to you? And just typing it out, printing it out,

397
00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,160
Speaker 5: getting it out. That is like what we were doing.

398
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,199
Speaker 5: And because that is our power, that is what we

399
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:59,359
Speaker 5: can do. Activating a community of neighbors to collect information

400
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:01,840
Speaker 5: and share information is what we do.

401
00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:03,760
Speaker 2: And it was made.

402
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:05,639
Speaker 5: Possible by the fact that we had these partners who

403
00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:07,840
Speaker 5: were able to step in and address that immediate need.

404
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:09,600
Speaker 2: Should we have to do that?

405
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,639
Speaker 5: Should there be other systems in place so that you

406
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:17,320
Speaker 5: know that we don't? You know, someone shouldn't have to,

407
00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,720
Speaker 5: like you said, be sitting there with their planner figuring

408
00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:23,400
Speaker 5: out how they're going to get to these different food pantries.

409
00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:27,320
Speaker 2: No, but if we can, we can. I think for me,

410
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:28,920
Speaker 2: the most.

411
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:32,760
Speaker 5: Challenging and like elucidating one of the more elucidating like

412
00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:35,600
Speaker 5: text messages. I got was from a friend who also

413
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,359
Speaker 5: happens to be one of our participants, and she, you know,

414
00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:41,359
Speaker 5: she works three jobs. She is in section eight, she's

415
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,679
Speaker 5: snap benefits. And she texted and she said, am I

416
00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:48,719
Speaker 5: allowed to go to multiple food pantries? Like she didn't know?

417
00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,080
Speaker 5: She didn't know if she was allowed to access multiple

418
00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,000
Speaker 5: services because she just didn't know.

419
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:56,560
Speaker 1: Let's see here too.

420
00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:59,159
Speaker 4: I want to interject there too, because she raises a

421
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:03,200
Speaker 4: good point because in times past, because they had to

422
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,359
Speaker 4: make sure that they had to allocate where it was

423
00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:08,359
Speaker 4: coming from, they used to take down your zip codes

424
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:10,920
Speaker 4: from a United Way. I used to partner with the

425
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,159
Speaker 4: United Way, and I know that if you had tiptoed

426
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:18,680
Speaker 4: over in Koreatown and then you sped off into the valley,

427
00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:21,200
Speaker 4: then they could kind of take a frown, which.

428
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:22,800
Speaker 1: Is also ridiculous.

429
00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:27,200
Speaker 4: And I understand the necessity for statistical purpose, but hunger

430
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:28,960
Speaker 4: doesn't give a damn about a zip code.

431
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:33,000
Speaker 2: So there's your new there's your new tagline right there.

432
00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:36,800
Speaker 6: It really doesn't give it damn.

433
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:38,920
Speaker 1: Yeah.

434
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,040
Speaker 6: I mean, oftentimes we're like giving people multiple meals because

435
00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 6: they haven't eaten all day. You know, and it's really

436
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,520
Speaker 6: just heartbreaking. I mean I really I think about again,

437
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:51,520
Speaker 6: like I'm going to go back to India just because

438
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:53,480
Speaker 6: when I go there, it's like a different type of

439
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:57,080
Speaker 6: like poverty, and it's here it feels like it just

440
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:01,200
Speaker 6: like we have the food, right and then like there's

441
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:03,720
Speaker 6: not enough food maybe to get to people, but like

442
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:07,560
Speaker 6: here we have it, so it feels very cruel. I

443
00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:09,720
Speaker 6: don't know, it just it feels like a fundamental need

444
00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:13,199
Speaker 6: and it feels like we should we should absolutely be

445
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,200
Speaker 6: able to support it. And I think that's what the frustrating.

446
00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:18,879
Speaker 6: I mean, it's the motivation that keeps me coming to

447
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,520
Speaker 6: this job every single day is like, you know, I

448
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,240
Speaker 6: think about how important food is in my day, right,

449
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:28,000
Speaker 6: and I can't imagine having to, you know, manage multiple

450
00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:31,639
Speaker 6: logistics not just for food, but for other things in life,

451
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 6: you know, and figuring out where you're going to put

452
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:35,840
Speaker 6: down a tent right if you're sleeping on the street.

453
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:37,680
Speaker 6: Just it it just seems wrong.

454
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,280
Speaker 2: It's the cruelty for me. I think that's it.

455
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,160
Speaker 5: There are so many injustices that we face every day

456
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,159
Speaker 5: that are I really hate, like we lack access, Like

457
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,359
Speaker 5: I really don't like lack like I do think that

458
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:49,800
Speaker 5: what happens has been denial.

459
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,639
Speaker 2: There's like food apartheid, not food deserts.

460
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:55,840
Speaker 5: Right Like, there are like it is denial, systems deny

461
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:58,920
Speaker 5: access to things. That being said, it is a lot

462
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:02,439
Speaker 5: of things are just systems overwhelmed, they're poorly constructed. You know,

463
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:04,480
Speaker 5: there are lots of things that you can do to say, okay,

464
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,120
Speaker 5: we fill in the gaps. I think the Snap crisis

465
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,399
Speaker 5: that happened was so jarring for so many in our community.

466
00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 5: It was really activating for a lot of people. But

467
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:17,639
Speaker 5: just one of the things that was so different about

468
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 5: it in terms of some of the other crises we face.

469
00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:23,160
Speaker 5: Right we face floods, we face fires, we face forty

470
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,320
Speaker 5: one to eighteen, we face policies, we face all sorts

471
00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:28,639
Speaker 5: of things. But I think the thing about Snap was like,

472
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 5: this is not a law, this is food. This is

473
00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:37,800
Speaker 5: cruelty at the most fundamental human level. And so then

474
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,920
Speaker 5: also when SNAP benefits were released and then there was

475
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:45,760
Speaker 5: an initiative to take them back, I that for me

476
00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 5: was like the height of cruelty that I cannot I

477
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,240
Speaker 5: mean understand that anywhere in my soul. And for us

478
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,280
Speaker 5: you know that in those moments. That's where we experience

479
00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,359
Speaker 5: so much gratitude for the community in Los Angeles just

480
00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:04,880
Speaker 5: pulled together and was like no, just no.

481
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:08,520
Speaker 4: And the thing too is like a lot of communities

482
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,800
Speaker 4: in Los Angeles did meet the moment. But also here's

483
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,919
Speaker 4: where the cruels he deepened, which is then he started

484
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:20,120
Speaker 4: attacking Section eight. Then he's starting attacking the housing vouchures.

485
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 4: He's he's making it, he's deliberately making the situation untenable

486
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,239
Speaker 4: because unless people could float in air and live up

487
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,000
Speaker 4: into the clouds or something that, you know, people are

488
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:35,520
Speaker 4: going to revert back to their survival skills that they

489
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,600
Speaker 4: had before they became a house because there's no way

490
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,720
Speaker 4: people are not going to just magically going to be okay.

491
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,800
Speaker 4: You take their housing from them and they need this

492
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,080
Speaker 4: cushion or need this help, which is with the continual

493
00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:51,879
Speaker 4: care the housing voultures being taken from them on top

494
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:56,000
Speaker 4: of them creating a more hostile system for people to

495
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,679
Speaker 4: apply for SNAP that even you know they're attacking agism,

496
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,880
Speaker 4: they're tracking people with mental health issues. And that's because

497
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:04,600
Speaker 4: you have a mental health issue doesn't mean you still

498
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:06,480
Speaker 4: got to get a job or you've got to really

499
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,320
Speaker 4: go through the most gargangment of who hoops to be

500
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:15,879
Speaker 4: able to satisfy their innatiable power structure of being feeling superior.

501
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,840
Speaker 4: But it's this idea that no matter what walk of

502
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 4: life you are, no matter what political stripe you are,

503
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:26,080
Speaker 4: everybody needs food. And the idea to use this as

504
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,879
Speaker 4: a captive or use this as to punish people, or

505
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 4: to use this to punish children because they are poor

506
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:36,280
Speaker 4: is a telling indictment of our system and our society.

507
00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:40,560
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I find myself saying this a lot

508
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:45,880
Speaker 6: in different meeting settings. Is everybody, we are all human beings.

509
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,879
Speaker 6: All of us are human beings. Like to remind people

510
00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:54,080
Speaker 6: about humanity? And where have we come to this place

511
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:57,680
Speaker 6: where we get to decide that someone is not deserving?

512
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:01,359
Speaker 6: I mean, it's beyond me, honestly, and right now, I

513
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,240
Speaker 6: feel like I tend to be an optimistic person. I mean,

514
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 6: I think when you're in nonprofit you have to be

515
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 6: an optimistic person otherwise you don't survive. And you you know,

516
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,760
Speaker 6: every day when I see you know, all of our

517
00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:16,200
Speaker 6: volunteers and all of our staff. And I'm sure Sarah

518
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,639
Speaker 6: you see this too at Cilia, like you see people

519
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,919
Speaker 6: coming together that believe that you can make a difference

520
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,480
Speaker 6: and you can make a change. And then we connect

521
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:26,720
Speaker 6: with our guests that come in every day and you're like,

522
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:29,679
Speaker 6: thank you so much for like making you just it

523
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,199
Speaker 6: allows us to keep going because right now, it's just

524
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:34,560
Speaker 6: it's a really hard time. It's you know, it would

525
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,399
Speaker 6: be easy to be like frustrated and just say like

526
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,440
Speaker 6: I can't do this, but like it's not right, you know,

527
00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:42,800
Speaker 6: and I think we all know that, and I think

528
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,840
Speaker 6: there are so many people here who are fighting for

529
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 6: for what we believe. That is to me, like what

530
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:50,040
Speaker 6: keeps me optimistic at.

531
00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,360
Speaker 4: This point when we come back more with our Nalli

532
00:28:53,440 --> 00:29:05,240
Speaker 4: and Sarah.

533
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,120
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Weedian House. I'm Theo Henderson.

534
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 4: Here's more of my chat with Ournali Ray from the

535
00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:10,760
Speaker 4: Hollywood Food Coalition and Sarah Reyes from Sila Neighborhood Homeless Coalition.

536
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:15,840
Speaker 4: This opportunity, this moment we've had to adapt to because

537
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,880
Speaker 4: when this happened, it put people on the back foot.

538
00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 4: It caught people by surprise because you know, I don't

539
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:24,960
Speaker 4: want to give this man more airtime, but the idea

540
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,960
Speaker 4: of this man has gone through a whole year, creating mischief, chaos,

541
00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:33,160
Speaker 4: and all kinds of pain for people, and he seems

542
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,160
Speaker 4: like he has an endless supply of finding ways to

543
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:39,480
Speaker 4: create more misery and hardship. Now you're messing with people's food,

544
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:42,360
Speaker 4: Now you're messing with people's housing. What lessons have you

545
00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:44,040
Speaker 4: learned from this administration?

546
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:44,960
Speaker 5: Sarah?

547
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:50,280
Speaker 6: You want to take that for I mean, you know

548
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 6: what I can start actually and then give you a

549
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:54,840
Speaker 6: few seconds. I think the way that I've sort of

550
00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 6: pivoted is is thinking about hyper local approaches and really

551
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:01,960
Speaker 6: a lot of co collaboration. I mean, we're very lucky

552
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:04,600
Speaker 6: here in Hollywood. I'm on the board of this organization

553
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,520
Speaker 6: called Hollywood Forward, which is a coalition of like a

554
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:12,080
Speaker 6: very diverse group, but it's you know, community members, activists,

555
00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,600
Speaker 6: faith based service providers, businesses, you name it, they're there.

556
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,240
Speaker 6: And so we've got great relationships and so in these

557
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,640
Speaker 6: moments we're able to think creatively and become innovative. You know,

558
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 6: all this sharing of food resources and everything came about

559
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:30,240
Speaker 6: through Hollywood Forward because la is so large, right, you

560
00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 6: look at downtown, it's very different. You know, going downtown

561
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:35,480
Speaker 6: is very different than going to Hollywood, and you really

562
00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 6: need to look at that local community and see how

563
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,720
Speaker 6: you might provide the kinds of services that that community

564
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:44,560
Speaker 6: needs and wants. Right. So, I think, like really kind

565
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:48,160
Speaker 6: of focusing in on hyper local and working with collaborating

566
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:51,360
Speaker 6: with partners in the community is my mo Sarah, what

567
00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:51,800
Speaker 6: about you?

568
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:56,720
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you know similarly fully acknowledging that hyperlocal

569
00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:02,000
Speaker 5: works particularly well in resourced communities and sometimes doesn't work

570
00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 5: great in underresourced communities.

571
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,040
Speaker 2: You know, but that there are ways.

572
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:12,760
Speaker 5: To through radical collaboration and and also equitable collaboration right

573
00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:17,680
Speaker 5: places that allow for like real communication and vulnerability. I

574
00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:20,080
Speaker 5: think that's the other part of it. One of the things,

575
00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:23,880
Speaker 5: Like you said, THEO was regardless of where you stand,

576
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:28,920
Speaker 5: food is a human right, Let's find the surefooting, right,

577
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:33,160
Speaker 5: Like we're Angelino's, let's find the shorefooting. When the fires happened,

578
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 5: we were like, let's find our common ground, let's find

579
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:37,320
Speaker 5: what we can do together.

580
00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:40,320
Speaker 2: When everyone was like pouring resources.

581
00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:43,080
Speaker 5: Into La, and La was like thank you, Like we

582
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 5: appreciate all of your clothes and your toilet paper and

583
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:48,600
Speaker 5: all of that, but like we are caring for ourselves

584
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,920
Speaker 5: in this moment. Send money, but we are caring for

585
00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:54,080
Speaker 5: ourselves right now, we will tell.

586
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 2: You what we need.

587
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,440
Speaker 5: I think in the same way I think that we can,

588
00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:02,800
Speaker 5: like through through creating space for active listening, seeking to

589
00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 5: create spaces of active listening, equitable listening to one another

590
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:10,280
Speaker 5: in this like hyper local environment, but again like reaching out,

591
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:14,000
Speaker 5: reaching out from neighborhood to neighborhood. I think that's that's

592
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 5: what I've learned, and not just this round of the administration,

593
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,200
Speaker 5: but the last round of this administration showed me that too.

594
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 5: I think we've seen time and time again that isolation

595
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,000
Speaker 5: is the most powerful tool of someone who is trying

596
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:31,040
Speaker 5: to disempower a community. They isolate you through fear, they

597
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:35,600
Speaker 5: isolate you through information confusion, and so the only thing

598
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,080
Speaker 5: you can do in those moments is reach out to

599
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:38,560
Speaker 5: one another.

600
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:40,120
Speaker 2: And I think that's what.

601
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,800
Speaker 5: We do, and we do that through collaboration here in

602
00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:45,560
Speaker 5: Los Angeles. So well, not only do we share resources

603
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:48,240
Speaker 5: like food, we share resources. Anali and I are in

604
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:52,840
Speaker 5: the same building right now, like administratively, we share resources.

605
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:55,400
Speaker 5: As she said, she mentioned that we have a lot

606
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:57,840
Speaker 5: of the same participants who come to our programming, so

607
00:32:57,920 --> 00:32:59,959
Speaker 5: then it would make sense for us to share information

608
00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:03,080
Speaker 5: if we're going to provide holistic care for those individuals, right,

609
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:07,760
Speaker 5: because why wouldn't we like we share people and things

610
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 5: and resources without ego, without expectation, because that is the

611
00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:15,400
Speaker 5: way that we are going to make this work. And

612
00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:18,720
Speaker 5: I think that is my lesson for this administration. But

613
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,960
Speaker 5: it is not easy because not everybody has the same

614
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:26,600
Speaker 5: way of communicating, not everyone has the same priority. You know,

615
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:29,280
Speaker 5: it takes a lot of patience and sometimes I'm not

616
00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 5: the most patient person.

617
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 6: That's not true.

618
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:38,080
Speaker 5: That's my lesson, and you know, SEEO honestly, like one

619
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 5: of the things I also really have learned is like

620
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:46,240
Speaker 5: seeking out voices really proactively, like yours, like truly, and

621
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 5: as we're looking at twenty twenty six, I have been

622
00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:52,520
Speaker 5: thinking about you a lot, wanting to hear your perspective,

623
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 5: wanting to sit down and ask you specifically, like what

624
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:01,200
Speaker 5: you think this should look like and what you hear

625
00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:03,640
Speaker 5: it looking like. And I think that's a huge lesson,

626
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,240
Speaker 5: is just like we need to seek out the voices

627
00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 5: who should be informing this and elevating them, I know,

628
00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:11,319
Speaker 5: and you're already doing it.

629
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:15,400
Speaker 4: So And I was going to ask a follow up

630
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,279
Speaker 4: question because when this happened, when he created this kind

631
00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:23,160
Speaker 4: of chaotic nature. I immediately started going for this guy's

632
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:25,440
Speaker 4: got three years to go. So we're going to have

633
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:30,000
Speaker 4: to be as on our toes obviously, but also being

634
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,279
Speaker 4: able to if we have created a moment of a

635
00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:36,600
Speaker 4: momentary solution for now, which was good, it can't be

636
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:39,560
Speaker 4: like what you make me saying, like when hyper local.

637
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,880
Speaker 4: You have to adapt because this is not a president

638
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 4: that stops trying to be harmful to people. Now that

639
00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:49,040
Speaker 4: we've had a year of being batter to bruised, okay,

640
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:51,440
Speaker 4: we know what his get down is. So we're going

641
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,480
Speaker 4: to have to make sure our communities is going to

642
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 4: have to be stronger. It's going to have to take

643
00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 4: a meeting of the minds of other community members to

644
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 4: a being on this show are talking and connecting and

645
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:05,239
Speaker 4: introducing each other in order to whether what's going on.

646
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:08,120
Speaker 4: He's trying to attact people's food, he's trying to attack

647
00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:12,440
Speaker 4: people's housing, he's trying to attack people's employment. He's you know,

648
00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:15,960
Speaker 4: despite him hiding that, you know, the people are getting

649
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:18,439
Speaker 4: all these new jobs and things. We know what's going

650
00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:21,560
Speaker 4: on because I have a mutual aid every Saturday, and

651
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:25,319
Speaker 4: each time I look out the lines are bigger. It's

652
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:28,279
Speaker 4: not just like the regular community members that we know

653
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:31,240
Speaker 4: that we're in house in the community. It's people coming

654
00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:34,480
Speaker 4: from other areas that are unhoused, that are hearing word

655
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:37,280
Speaker 4: of mouth. And like again when I said, they're plotting,

656
00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:40,840
Speaker 4: you know, how to meet a meal or retain a

657
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:45,759
Speaker 4: meal in this kind of climate. And they're adapting. And

658
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:47,840
Speaker 4: that's the thing too, what I noticed. We're going to

659
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,319
Speaker 4: probably as as soon as said it done after three

660
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,080
Speaker 4: or four years when he leaves, we're going to have

661
00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:57,040
Speaker 4: so many new creative, innovative tools that we didn't have

662
00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:00,160
Speaker 4: pre pandemic. And I have to I always say, have

663
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,200
Speaker 4: to think pandemic, but I do say mutual aids and

664
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:07,000
Speaker 4: communities started to meet the moment when that happened, because

665
00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:10,319
Speaker 4: before that, you know, being on the street, it was

666
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,319
Speaker 4: tough to try to get food. And then when the

667
00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:17,399
Speaker 4: pandemic hit, people shut down. Even helping organizations shut down

668
00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:20,319
Speaker 4: for a moment, and it caused a moment of them

669
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:23,440
Speaker 4: having to meet and figure out how to still be

670
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:24,719
Speaker 4: there for the community.

671
00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:27,239
Speaker 1: It was safety and health wise as well.

672
00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:30,360
Speaker 4: And I think that's this is another pivotal moment for

673
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,360
Speaker 4: that we're on the precipice of some new innovations.

674
00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,839
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think you're so right THEO, Like, you know,

675
00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,200
Speaker 6: it's wonderful to see how many orgs, you know, our

676
00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:44,040
Speaker 6: partners are serving food. Just to share one other little

677
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:48,680
Speaker 6: quick anecdote, you know, during the fires, obviously, like there

678
00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:51,080
Speaker 6: were a lot of people, especially in the Altadena region,

679
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:54,960
Speaker 6: who lost their homes and didn't have meals, and we

680
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:57,799
Speaker 6: already had quite a group of partners that were in

681
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 6: that area, and we were all to mobilize really quickly

682
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:04,319
Speaker 6: to like get food out to folks. And what was

683
00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:06,799
Speaker 6: great is that we were able to get funding and

684
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:09,719
Speaker 6: so we got to really do our what we do best,

685
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:12,719
Speaker 6: which is the aggregating of the food, and then we

686
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:16,160
Speaker 6: got to like basically work with our partners to distribute

687
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:19,000
Speaker 6: the food and we were able to also like have

688
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 6: some funding shift their way too. And for us, it's

689
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:26,080
Speaker 6: it's not just being efficient, it's also saying like, hey,

690
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:28,439
Speaker 6: here are the groups that are already in Altadina doing

691
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:30,799
Speaker 6: the amazing work, Like how do we find a way

692
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 6: to like continue to share some of this funding so

693
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:37,400
Speaker 6: that you know, we're all surviving, we're all thriving to

694
00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:39,319
Speaker 6: continue to do the work. That we're doing, and so

695
00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:42,840
Speaker 6: you know, through these crisis we do think about things

696
00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:47,200
Speaker 6: like radical collaboration, you know, community building, and I do

697
00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:49,200
Speaker 6: think that that is something that is going to come

698
00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:51,200
Speaker 6: out of this. I mean I was even thinking about

699
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:53,840
Speaker 6: Sarah even some of the work that you're doing with

700
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,319
Speaker 6: the new space and how the organization that you know

701
00:37:57,400 --> 00:37:59,680
Speaker 6: is doing the food part of it is like came

702
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:03,400
Speaker 6: out of the pandemic, right. Yeah, and you know Sarah

703
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:06,600
Speaker 6: is also in a collaborative space. I'll let you Sarah

704
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,920
Speaker 6: talk about her own programming, but basically like she's in

705
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:12,799
Speaker 6: a collaborative space too, which is both trying to be

706
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:15,160
Speaker 6: efficient but also working with like like minded partners.

707
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:18,319
Speaker 5: Yeah, Food and Security in La is just you know,

708
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:21,000
Speaker 5: we could go on and on. But this this again

709
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:24,239
Speaker 5: before Snap Benefits, in the when things were in the

710
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:28,680
Speaker 5: okay times. FILA was co founded the Food and Security

711
00:38:28,719 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 5: shared Hub with Everyday Action, Casimo La Rosa, the Daughters

712
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:36,320
Speaker 5: of Charity own a building and they've let a few

713
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:40,080
Speaker 5: of us move into the space and start groups like

714
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:43,080
Speaker 5: Everyday Action who rescue food from like film sets, and

715
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:44,040
Speaker 5: I think you know.

716
00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:46,680
Speaker 1: Them, Ceo, Yes, I interviewed them for my show.

717
00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:48,040
Speaker 2: So perfect.

718
00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:50,360
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, you know, so, yes, So we we co

719
00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:53,279
Speaker 5: founded that space with them because they rescue food and

720
00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:56,000
Speaker 5: we distribute food. So it's very similar to the relationship

721
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 5: that we have with anale, except we actually are like

722
00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:01,000
Speaker 5: physically sharing warehouse space and you know, trying to fund

723
00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:05,000
Speaker 5: it to finally get all of our refrigerators and everything

724
00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:08,080
Speaker 5: up and running in that space. But yeah, it's I

725
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:10,879
Speaker 5: think in like radical resource sharing and exactly what Annali said.

726
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:14,279
Speaker 5: The idea of an organization saying oh, thank you so

727
00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:17,400
Speaker 5: much for this money, also give it to the people

728
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:20,359
Speaker 5: who are already doing the work in that area is

729
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:24,279
Speaker 5: such a new concept. And I have also turned and

730
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:28,600
Speaker 5: like done similar things and had funders be like are

731
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:31,839
Speaker 5: you okay, And I'm like, you don't want me to

732
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:33,600
Speaker 5: do it? You should give it to them because they

733
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:36,360
Speaker 5: already know how to do it. It's gonna take me longer,

734
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:39,680
Speaker 5: you should give it to them. And I love that that.

735
00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:41,720
Speaker 5: You know, again, if you can see a silver lining

736
00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:45,480
Speaker 5: in some of these horrible systemic crises for the sake

737
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:48,840
Speaker 5: of efficiency, Like we're sort of like even with like

738
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:51,839
Speaker 5: HUD funding getting cut, you're seeing people who are like no,

739
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:54,520
Speaker 5: instead of instead of giving me money, and I don't

740
00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 5: know how to build a house. Let's funnel all the

741
00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:58,839
Speaker 5: money to the people who already know how to build

742
00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,560
Speaker 5: housing or were like know how to do permanent support

743
00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:04,560
Speaker 5: of housing. And yeah, there's like egos kind of going

744
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:06,120
Speaker 5: away for the sake of efficiency in a lot of

745
00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:06,800
Speaker 5: these spaces.

746
00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:08,280
Speaker 1: That's wonderful.

747
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:10,040
Speaker 4: And like I said, you know, this is going to

748
00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 4: probably be the years of innovation and being able to adaptability.

749
00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:18,279
Speaker 4: These are things that were not discussed or were even contemplated,

750
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:21,399
Speaker 4: like maybe less five to six years ago. Now these

751
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:24,640
Speaker 4: conversations are looming large in the communities. And one of

752
00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:26,359
Speaker 4: the things I want to always get a shout out

753
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:28,520
Speaker 4: to is the mutual aid groups that are meeting the

754
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:31,120
Speaker 4: moment that are not nonprofits.

755
00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:33,319
Speaker 1: They literally seeing a dirt.

756
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:37,080
Speaker 4: Like what the pandemic did was shine a light on

757
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:41,920
Speaker 4: a lot of missing steps in places. And I was

758
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:44,360
Speaker 4: had a broken leg, I was out there on the street,

759
00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 4: took time to find the restroom because you know, stores

760
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:51,280
Speaker 4: were not open and the stores were not letting unhoused

761
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:53,479
Speaker 4: people in the Starbucks was giving me a hard time,

762
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,680
Speaker 4: or I'm trying to figure out how to find food.

763
00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:58,719
Speaker 4: You know, even if you did have food on the

764
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:02,320
Speaker 4: staff thing. I learn quickly that people were hoarding the food.

765
00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:04,720
Speaker 4: So what was the one having money on the snap

766
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:06,960
Speaker 4: If you had touldn't get the food because they were

767
00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,520
Speaker 4: taking it. So that created a new map that I

768
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:12,800
Speaker 4: had to do. I had to adapt to find. Okay,

769
00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:16,120
Speaker 4: what places that most mainstream people know go to? Then

770
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:18,560
Speaker 4: I had to find and then they do eebt and

771
00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 4: then you know, how to plot the day to get

772
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:24,120
Speaker 4: there on public transportation or on a bus and things

773
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:27,080
Speaker 4: like that to get there, and then to make sure

774
00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:29,720
Speaker 4: that I was able to store the food and able

775
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:31,960
Speaker 4: to you know, to even to find a place to

776
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:32,319
Speaker 4: cook it.

777
00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:36,959
Speaker 5: So yeah, see it's the everyday logistics that people forget about.

778
00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:39,880
Speaker 5: And this is this is where Cela steps in. Is

779
00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:42,200
Speaker 5: this like yeah, there, if you could just have your

780
00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:45,240
Speaker 5: neighbors supporting in these moments, it shouldn't And the mutual

781
00:41:45,239 --> 00:41:47,640
Speaker 5: A groups, like you said, because it's funny we put

782
00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:49,880
Speaker 5: it into like we call it volunteerism, you call it

783
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:52,040
Speaker 5: mutual aid. You can call it what you want. But

784
00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:55,160
Speaker 5: at the end of the day, it's just being a neighbor.

785
00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:58,600
Speaker 5: Like we give it names now, we give it titles now.

786
00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:00,759
Speaker 5: But there was a time where that is just being

787
00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:03,600
Speaker 5: in community, and I like, I long for the day

788
00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:05,319
Speaker 5: where we are not a five oh one C three

789
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:07,520
Speaker 5: because this is just a thing we do for one another,

790
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:10,120
Speaker 5: you know, like that is the day I look for,

791
00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:12,840
Speaker 5: like Annali when yeah, the reason that there are dinners

792
00:42:12,880 --> 00:42:15,640
Speaker 5: every day is because because I am an old woman

793
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:18,040
Speaker 5: who makes dinner every day and I invite people over,

794
00:42:18,239 --> 00:42:20,719
Speaker 5: you know, like that is that is what I long for,

795
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:22,360
Speaker 5: is the day when these don't have titles.

796
00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:24,760
Speaker 4: I also want to point out too that some mutuay

797
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:27,040
Speaker 4: has become five to one so three because of the need.

798
00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:30,440
Speaker 4: So that wasn't to disparage five oh one C three's

799
00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:33,480
Speaker 4: or nonprofits, but I have to give I think that's crazy.

800
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:35,640
Speaker 2: I think we both became that. I think that's how

801
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:37,320
Speaker 2: it started exactly.

802
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:40,399
Speaker 4: So that to say that, you know, not just poo

803
00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:44,040
Speaker 4: poo on that usual aid, because that's usually the genesis

804
00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:44,839
Speaker 4: because the need.

805
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,160
Speaker 1: They see the immediate need, and then once you.

806
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:50,800
Speaker 4: Know, they notice like man, this is a little bit deeper,

807
00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:53,320
Speaker 4: This is a little bit needs a little bit more reflection,

808
00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:56,480
Speaker 4: This needs a little bit more strategy. So this is

809
00:42:56,520 --> 00:42:58,400
Speaker 4: why I'm going to do this. In order to do

810
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:01,080
Speaker 4: that so you know, like I say, all of it

811
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:04,320
Speaker 4: is very necessary. But also if it wasn't for the

812
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:06,799
Speaker 4: mutual as it wasn't for the neighbors seeing the need

813
00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:09,640
Speaker 4: immediately before the five or one threes, it wouldn't have

814
00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:11,479
Speaker 4: gotten off the ground. You wouldn't have a five one

815
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:13,160
Speaker 4: you know, or you know, you know, it would be

816
00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:14,720
Speaker 4: just a problem.

817
00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:16,640
Speaker 1: And so that's just sad, too bad.

818
00:43:16,719 --> 00:43:19,000
Speaker 4: So said like mid prior to five years ago and

819
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:22,040
Speaker 4: able to drove on put on their music or just

820
00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:24,719
Speaker 4: this is not my problem more, this is not my

821
00:43:24,719 --> 00:43:26,759
Speaker 4: my circus or I don't know what to do. I

822
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:29,120
Speaker 4: would just donate or throw a couple dollars out the

823
00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:31,240
Speaker 4: window and then just going about my business.

824
00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:33,719
Speaker 6: So yeah, I mean, we really need all of the

825
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:37,160
Speaker 6: groups to be in the ecosystem because we all play

826
00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:40,200
Speaker 6: different roles, like I always say, like in food, like

827
00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:42,759
Speaker 6: the large food banks are you know, they play a

828
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:46,879
Speaker 6: huge role. We have this specific niche the mutual aid

829
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:49,399
Speaker 6: food like, so we all need each other in order

830
00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:52,920
Speaker 6: to support our communities. So totally agree with Ezio.

831
00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:54,760
Speaker 1: Yeah perfect.

832
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:56,879
Speaker 4: I hope I'm not taking too much of your time.

833
00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:01,200
Speaker 4: I feel this conversation can go on forever. I'm going

834
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:04,280
Speaker 4: to try to wrap it up and ask you anything

835
00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:06,600
Speaker 4: that you want to leave with the audience to consider.

836
00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:09,960
Speaker 6: That's a very good question. I mean I would just

837
00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:13,960
Speaker 6: say that right now, with all the chaos that's happening

838
00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:17,000
Speaker 6: sort of in the world, I think the thing that

839
00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:19,719
Speaker 6: a community member or a person can do is do

840
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,040
Speaker 6: an active service. I think if you're feeling like you

841
00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:26,080
Speaker 6: want to do something, there are so many organizations in

842
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:30,160
Speaker 6: your area locally obviously, like we run to organizations, but

843
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:33,600
Speaker 6: like come and volunteer, Come and be in community with

844
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:38,520
Speaker 6: people that share values and do something because I think

845
00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:41,359
Speaker 6: it's easy to feel lost, to feel scared, but when

846
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,080
Speaker 6: you go into action, you do feel better. And so

847
00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,319
Speaker 6: you know, that would just be my ask is to say, like,

848
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:49,440
Speaker 6: just if you if you want to do something and

849
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:51,160
Speaker 6: you have the time and you have the means to

850
00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:53,399
Speaker 6: come out and do it, go do it, sir.

851
00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:59,040
Speaker 5: Yeah, seconding, My call to people I think is very

852
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:02,160
Speaker 5: similar is not only come out, but I think just

853
00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:07,160
Speaker 5: a reminder that you aren't just wanted out here, you

854
00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:10,440
Speaker 5: are needed. I think it used to be like this

855
00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:13,040
Speaker 5: understanding that like you know, you go out and you

856
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:15,759
Speaker 5: do something because it's like you suffer like, to do

857
00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:18,640
Speaker 5: good shouldn't feel good. But when you actually get out

858
00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:21,640
Speaker 5: in the community, when you actually help, you're not just

859
00:45:21,680 --> 00:45:24,680
Speaker 5: helping other people, you are helping yourself. You feel better.

860
00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 5: You feel like there is something that you can do.

861
00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:32,839
Speaker 5: And I think especially right now with everything you're talking

862
00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:36,319
Speaker 5: about THEO with like what is happening with this administration,

863
00:45:36,520 --> 00:45:39,759
Speaker 5: what is happening in the world. We are early days

864
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:45,239
Speaker 5: in a challenging chapter. And so if you want to

865
00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:50,480
Speaker 5: feel like you can do something about that, then come

866
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:53,400
Speaker 5: out and engage in your community in some sort of

867
00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:56,359
Speaker 5: meaningful way. Yeah, we need you, so I know it's

868
00:45:56,360 --> 00:45:58,839
Speaker 5: a very similar call to action, but you can feel

869
00:45:58,880 --> 00:45:59,600
Speaker 5: good to do good.

870
00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:03,839
Speaker 1: I couldn't say any better than that. Thank you very much.

871
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:14,080
Speaker 4: Thank you again to Ournlly and Sarah for their time

872
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:17,399
Speaker 4: and their work. You can learn more about Hollywood Food

873
00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:20,560
Speaker 4: Coalition and Steal A Neighborhood Homeless Coalition at the links

874
00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:24,040
Speaker 4: in the description. To my audience, Thank you again for

875
00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:26,960
Speaker 4: listening in. If you have a story you'd like to share,

876
00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:29,719
Speaker 4: please reach out to me at Wiedianhouse at gmail dot

877
00:46:29,719 --> 00:46:34,640
Speaker 4: com or at wiedian House on Instagram. Until then, may

878
00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:39,720
Speaker 4: we again meet in the light of understanding. Whedian House

879
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:42,920
Speaker 4: is a production of iHeartRadio. It is written, hosted, and

880
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:49,040
Speaker 4: created by me Theo Henderson. Our producers Jamie Loftus, Hailey Fager,

881
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:53,760
Speaker 4: Katie Fischel and Lyra Smith. Our editor is Adam Wand,

882
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:57,520
Speaker 4: our engineer is Joe Jerome and.

883
00:46:57,640 --> 00:47:01,480
Speaker 1: Our loco art is also by Katie Fisher. Thank you

884
00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:02,440
Speaker 1: for listening.