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Speaker 1: Previously on Weedian House.

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Speaker 2: We often say an Indian country that being Indian and

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Speaker 2: identity is very complex, and there's a lot of reasons

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Speaker 2: for that, you know, having to do with the historical

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Speaker 2: processes of colonization, you know, settler colonialism, being dispossessed. So

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Speaker 2: you know, I mean, I'm thinking about the theme of

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Speaker 2: this podcast, I'm being unhoused and the through lines of that,

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Speaker 2: like what does it have to do well. Native American

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Speaker 2: people in this country are the first unhoused people. We

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Speaker 2: are the first people to be rendered homeless, to be

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Speaker 2: dispossessed of our lands. And it's that beginning point that

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Speaker 2: creates all the other problems that we have, including the

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Speaker 2: problems of identity.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to Wittian House. I'm your host, Theo Henderson. I'm excited.

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Speaker 3: We have two guests today from every Day Action, a

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Speaker 3: nonprofit that has been nominated for CNN's Hero of the

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Speaker 3: Year award.

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Speaker 1: But first on House News.

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Speaker 3: This is an open invitation please come join us at

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Speaker 3: the opening of Shirley's Free Food Hub. It's going to

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Speaker 3: be held Sunday, January fourth, twenty twenty six, from two

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Speaker 3: pm to four pm at thirty eight forty nine mount

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Speaker 3: Clair Street, Los Angeles, California, nine zero zero one eight.

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Speaker 3: This event will be the opening of the community fridge

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Speaker 3: and pantry named in honor of Shirley Chisholm and her

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Speaker 3: lifelong commitment to community care. Please bring a potluck, dish

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Speaker 3: or food donation for the fridge if you like. Our

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Speaker 3: next story takes us to Newport Beach, California.

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Speaker 1: Due to the Grass.

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Speaker 3: Pass ruley and the increased anti camping laws in Newport Beach,

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Speaker 3: they plan to withdraw from the Band and Bridge shelter program.

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Speaker 3: The shelter opened in twenty twenty one with seventy two

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Speaker 3: beds for the unhoused community. The original cost was one

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Speaker 3: point six million dollars. Newport Beach city officials negotiated with

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Speaker 3: Costa Mesa to give up access of all of its

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Speaker 3: allocated shelter beds by twenty twenty seven, and that's on

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Speaker 3: house dues. When we come back, I speak with the

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Speaker 3: team behind Everyday Action and learn how they are distributing

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Speaker 3: leftover food from Hollywood film sets.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Willian House. I'm Theo Henderson.

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Speaker 3: This episode epitomizes Maya Angelo's quote, we delight in the

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Speaker 3: beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it

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Speaker 3: has gone through to achieve that beauty. Our guests today,

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Speaker 3: samlu and Hilary Cohen, embodied the transformation it takes to

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Speaker 3: meet the needs of the Hungary during the pandemic and

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Speaker 3: beyond their nonprofit everyday action is the butterfly that went

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Speaker 3: through the chrysalis of change. Here is their story. This

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Speaker 3: is theo Henderson from Weedian House. And we have an

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Speaker 3: exciting couple of people here that is meeting the moment

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Speaker 3: and when I say meeting the meeting the moment of

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Speaker 3: we are in such chaos and particularly in large part

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Speaker 3: due to the administration that we have, and if you

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Speaker 3: have missed it or you've been living under a rock,

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Speaker 3: you understand that we are in the throws of the

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Speaker 3: death nail of feeding instability, that's what I would like

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Speaker 3: to call it. And our own administration sued poor people

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Speaker 3: to not feed them. Let me repeat that so you understand.

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Speaker 3: The Trump administration, the president of the United States, sued

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Speaker 3: to not feed over forty two million Americans. They fought

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Speaker 3: tooth and nail and not feeding when the government was

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Speaker 3: in the shutdown, So that means there was at least

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Speaker 3: over twenty two million children that were starving. There were

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Speaker 3: adults that were starving, there were disabled people that were starving,

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Speaker 3: and they were just equile body people starving as well.

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Speaker 3: The fact remains that this is the statement, This is

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Speaker 3: the metaphor that people who said that they didn't know

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Speaker 3: Trump was going to be like this what they've been

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Speaker 3: voted for three times. This person voted for well, this

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Speaker 3: person accepted the vitriol and the disdain that he has

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Speaker 3: for vulnerable people, food and secure and income secure people

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Speaker 3: that do boom and gloom or doom.

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Speaker 1: Scrolling kind of introduction.

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Speaker 3: I will try to lift this moment up to a

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Speaker 3: little bit more of an upbeat type of tempo. We

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Speaker 3: have two people that are meeting is a moment. I'm

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Speaker 3: going to let them introduce themselves and then from there

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Speaker 3: we're going to have a conversation about how critical this

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Speaker 3: moment is here in Los Angeles and how also we

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Speaker 3: can do it from the micro to the macro without

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Speaker 3: further dude, welcome, my two guests.

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Speaker 1: Please introduce yourselves.

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Speaker 4: Well, I'm Hillary and I'm Sam and we're the co

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Speaker 4: founders of Everyday Action. And Everyday Action is a nonprofit

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Speaker 4: that was founded a little over five years ago, and

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Speaker 4: we focus on reallocating food from fem MTV sets, but

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Speaker 4: also other events, grocery stores and more across a ninety

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Speaker 4: mile area of outreach to people in need, the people

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Speaker 4: who are in house, and people who are struggling with

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Speaker 4: food insecurity.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, we are a food recovery service and our services

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Speaker 5: also provide that recovered food over to other nonprofits and

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Speaker 5: other organizations that have food programs or inherited it. That

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Speaker 5: happens with a lot of a lot of different nonprofits

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Speaker 5: and programs, so we're really helping stretch their dollar as

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Speaker 5: well while also you know, saving the planet and you know,

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Speaker 5: helping food waste get reduced as well as food and security.

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Speaker 3: I would like to also add more bang for the

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Speaker 3: book because of what's going on, the food is really

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Speaker 3: needed and in particularly in this time Hillary.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I want to get back to what you said

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Speaker 4: about Action and that's where Everyday Action kind of came from,

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Speaker 4: and it was founded in twenty twenty. To me, a

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Speaker 4: similar time of now where there's a lot of need

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Speaker 4: and a lot of areas and a lot of places

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Speaker 4: to give back, and it's hard to figure out what

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Speaker 4: to do. And in twenty twenty, similar to now, I

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Speaker 4: was really frustrated and I found myself online reading a

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Speaker 4: lot of hate and responding in the same way. And

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Speaker 4: I just one day felt so unproductive in what I

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Speaker 4: was doing and just was like, why am I down

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Speaker 4: this rabbit hole of nonsense? And I really thought every

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Speaker 4: time I got fueled with rage, because it did get

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Speaker 4: fueled with rage, that I just did something until I

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Speaker 4: wasn't angry anymore, and then the next day did the

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Speaker 4: same thing. And then what if it was like a

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Speaker 4: ripple effect? What if we could do that to other people?

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Speaker 4: And every time we all got angry at systems and things,

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Speaker 4: we stopped talking and we went and did stuff. Whatever

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Speaker 4: that is and whatever avenue that's important to you. Imagine

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Speaker 4: the world of change that would be we would be

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Speaker 4: living in, and imagine the problems that wouldn't be happening

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Speaker 4: because we would all be focusing on a little bit,

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Speaker 4: even if it's just helping one person a day. If

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Speaker 4: everyone did that, I do think that everyone would be here.

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Speaker 3: Let me preface also that she did something proactive, constructive.

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Speaker 3: She didn't do in destructively like take people's food benefits away.

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Speaker 3: She did things to become part of the solution, not

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Speaker 3: part of the problem. But also I wanted to bring

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Speaker 3: out to that our society and its historical moments that

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Speaker 3: we are facing I once in a lifetime pandemic, We're

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Speaker 3: facing instability in our electoral system, We're dealing with climate

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Speaker 3: emergencies are more increasingly often, and so it leaves us

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Speaker 3: always seemingly on the back foot. But one thing that

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Speaker 3: I do really call and I will bring this into

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Speaker 3: a more of a unifying note, is that no matter

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Speaker 3: what station of life, what part of life you're in,

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Speaker 3: what walk of life you're in, one thing that we

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Speaker 3: all have in common. You know, it's not we all

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Speaker 3: bleed read, That's not it. We all have to eat

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Speaker 3: and we need to have food to sustain us. And

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Speaker 3: because I had lived on the streets of over eight

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Speaker 3: years and I have medical condition of diabetes, there's places,

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Speaker 3: there are things that needs to happen in order to

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Speaker 3: maintain equilibrium of human bodies, and people that are unable

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Speaker 3: to do so face higher health risk. But I'm digressing.

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Speaker 3: So I was witnessing you guys were on CNN, and

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Speaker 3: can you tell us a little bit about what the

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Speaker 3: CNN interview with about and then we can take that

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Speaker 3: to the second question I have.

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Speaker 4: Sure to me, CNN was about Everyday Action having a

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Speaker 4: platform to grow. You know, we're a grassroots nonprofit that's

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Speaker 4: always fought for funding, so I saw it as a

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Speaker 4: platform for us to be able to get recognition and

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Speaker 4: more of everything, more volunteers, more donations, more food donations,

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Speaker 4: and the ability to grow. I think that Everyody Action

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Speaker 4: is a really scalable platform. We get asked all the time,

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Speaker 4: can we go to other states and cities. We definitely

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Speaker 4: want to do that. I just can't forget how to

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Speaker 4: do that till we're funded. So CNN for us is

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Speaker 4: really about an opportunity. It was really great for them

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Speaker 4: to tell our story. It was actually fun for Sam

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Speaker 4: and I working in film production because it was a

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Speaker 4: very skeleton crew, So getting to work with that crew

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Speaker 4: on a really intimate level kind of brought us back

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Speaker 4: to our roots a bit. And we went to the

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Speaker 4: sound stage where it was all created. So that was

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Speaker 4: all really nice to kind of bring the whole story

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Speaker 4: full circle.

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Speaker 3: When I mentioned how we all are in and facing

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Speaker 3: the instability of this administration and the financial downlo turn,

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Speaker 3: you mentioned a bit about your careers and how you

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Speaker 3: guys had that. Has that impacted a little bit on

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Speaker 3: how you're viewing food and I won't say job in security,

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Speaker 3: but both. Basically it is jobs in security, but food

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Speaker 3: and security definitely ties into it because if you don't

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Speaker 3: have a job, you know, you're going to have to

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Speaker 3: need to eat. You know, you can't eat air sandwich,

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Speaker 3: as my mother says, So oh.

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Speaker 5: One thousand percent. You know, our industry has taken a

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Speaker 5: real hit in the last few years and we definitely

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Speaker 5: felt it. You know, we were working full time on

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Speaker 5: set when we started this, and I don't know how

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Speaker 5: we did it. We didn't sleep for three and a

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Speaker 5: half years, but you know, we had full time jobs

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Speaker 5: and now we've had to transition to where this is

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Speaker 5: our full time job. Although it needs our attention one

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Speaker 5: thousand percent, it's also that those opportunities to sort of

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Speaker 5: split like that has you know, it's really waned in

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Speaker 5: the last few years. So yeah, there's a massive job

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Speaker 5: in security in our industry and we've really felt it ourselves,

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Speaker 5: and we know everyone across the board in every department

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Speaker 5: has also felt it as well.

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Speaker 4: And that's something that we work as an organization to

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Speaker 4: solve and have work to solve from the beginning. So

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Speaker 4: we pay a stipeend to production assistants and background artists

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Speaker 4: and really anyone that's struggling at the moment, because it

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Speaker 4: is a really big pool. It's not getting smaller, it's

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Speaker 4: only getting larger. Unfortunately, production isn't a big shift. So

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Speaker 4: we are trying as quickly as we can to get

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Speaker 4: our film Industry Driver Program fully funded because we'd love

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Speaker 4: for it to be a place that anyone in the

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Speaker 4: business can call any day of the week and say, hey,

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Speaker 4: I need to work today. You know, they can work

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Speaker 4: for four to six hours going right to a film set,

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Speaker 4: delivering food right to an organization in need. It's a

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Speaker 4: really great way to give back and also give back

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Speaker 4: to yourself because it is really hard to live in

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Speaker 4: Los Angeles and our business is ever changing, and even

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Speaker 4: I think once it does settle back, it's not going

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Speaker 4: to look the same as it was posts or prior

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Speaker 4: to all the strikes, prior to this massive change.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and give in a shout out to our Driver program.

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Speaker 5: You know, when we started it, it was only open

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Speaker 5: to production assistants and background actors. People don't know those

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Speaker 5: are the lowest paid positions on a film set. Okay,

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Speaker 5: So we always knew that we wanted to give back

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Speaker 5: to our own industry as well as you know, we

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Speaker 5: just wanted to do everything.

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Speaker 6: We're i DS.

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Speaker 5: We want to solve as many things as possible, So

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Speaker 5: we knew that we wanted to give back within our

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Speaker 5: industry in that way. For me personally, those two positions

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Speaker 5: of humans helped build my career, so we really know

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Speaker 5: that they are just the absolute backbone of the industry,

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Speaker 5: and that's why we created the program. You know, we

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Speaker 5: really wanted to highlight that it takes a special skill

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Speaker 5: to be around a sets. You know, it really does.

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Speaker 5: You can't just show up and ask where the food is.

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Speaker 5: It really takes a bit of navigation and set knowledge

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Speaker 5: and to be able to have people be able to

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Speaker 5: translate those skills into a job that's something for good

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Speaker 5: and it's something that can supplement their income as they're struggling.

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Speaker 6: It just it made sense to us.

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Speaker 3: It is an innovative way of determining mutual aid and

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Speaker 3: that's you know, mutual aid has always got to find

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Speaker 3: a nature hole and be creative of feeling that hole

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Speaker 3: and also offering dignity and mutual sense of service for

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Speaker 3: both parties. One of the things I wanted to asks

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Speaker 3: because I think i'd recently seen because if you know,

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Speaker 3: there's been a downturn in the field, there's been a

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Speaker 3: couple of places I've seen where people I think this

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Speaker 3: Genma is he's in Vegas, I believe, and he was

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Speaker 3: in the field and he's currently living in his van

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Speaker 3: and he's trying to create a tiny home somewhere in Florida.

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Speaker 1: There are more and more, which is why I do the.

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Speaker 3: Show, to show that on the face of houselessness looks

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Speaker 3: completely different than what people have imagined. Many people only

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Speaker 3: see people that are enduring street houselessness and not understanding

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Speaker 3: the decline and how far it has to be to

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Speaker 3: you deceive that there are people that are actively fighting

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Speaker 3: it as best as they can. And he was mentioning

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Speaker 3: it was very art with because he does door dash too.

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Speaker 3: And there was another young lady. She was in the industry,

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Speaker 3: I believe she does our being hairstylists or whatever, and

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Speaker 3: she's too, is living in a car but worries but

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Speaker 3: she's not in the States that her car is breaking

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Speaker 3: down and it's going to become an extra.

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Speaker 1: Hurdle in order to get out of the situation.

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Speaker 3: Have you been across any of the other community on

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Speaker 3: house or housing secure people in.

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Speaker 4: Your field, people who have had to they don't have housing,

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Speaker 4: and they also have had to leave the state because

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Speaker 4: they can't physically afford to live here and they don't

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Speaker 4: have a place to go or housing as a result. No,

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Speaker 4: there's a massive housing crisis within our business, and people

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Speaker 4: who just don't know what to do. Beyond housing, it's

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Speaker 4: also health insurance. You know, our health insurance is based

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Speaker 4: on the hours that you work. If you're not working,

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Speaker 4: you don't have health insurance. So that is now becoming

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Speaker 4: a massive crisis as people are done with their you

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Speaker 4: knows it's expired. No one really has it anymore if

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Speaker 4: you were working. So now it's just a panic time.

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Speaker 3: And it's also a critical time because of the fact

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Speaker 3: that the administration that we have now or the regime

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Speaker 3: has taking an active disdain toward poor people. And and

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Speaker 3: I just no other polite way of saying this. Anytime

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Speaker 3: that you have a president of the United States, no

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Speaker 3: matter how you believe that certain people are taking advantage

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Speaker 3: of the system, that you will go to court to

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Speaker 3: sue to stop feeding people in the country and taking

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Speaker 3: a weather health assurance or fighting against them getting reasonable

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Speaker 3: or dignified living existence. We cannot ignore this. I have

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Speaker 3: to bring this to the forefront of that. How do

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Speaker 3: you see this impacting. Do you feel that the nonprofit

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Speaker 3: is going to be needing and be a higher demand

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Speaker 3: or is it going to feel that it's going to

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Speaker 3: be too overwhelming.

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Speaker 6: I definitely think it's going to be incredibly overwhelming.

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Speaker 4: I think that our system has always been in a

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Speaker 4: really unstable spot and that we need a change in that,

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Speaker 4: which is why every reaction exists. It's to make that

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Speaker 4: change and to be a change that you want, because

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Speaker 4: I don't think it's going to come from I don't

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Speaker 4: think the system is actually going to change. So on

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Speaker 4: a local level, if we focus on what we can

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Speaker 4: change locally, we band together locally. I think that's how

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Speaker 4: you stand up against systems that you don't agree with.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, for us, we always wanted to inspire community,

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Speaker 5: and I don't see any other way forward for us

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Speaker 5: as a country other than banding together as communities to

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Speaker 5: take care of each other. You know, for us, that

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Speaker 5: action is every day for a reason, because you have

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Speaker 5: to take care of, you know, each other every day.

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Speaker 5: We have felt that the demand for us has been

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Speaker 5: only a crescendo since we've started. I don't feel that

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Speaker 5: we've ever had a downturn, so we're already feeling it.

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Speaker 5: It's overwhelming to think of how much more is going

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Speaker 5: to come our way.

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Speaker 4: Like our beneficiary map I think has over one hundred

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Speaker 4: and fifty organizations on it, we can only really support

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Speaker 4: thirty to forty per year. You know, there's many organizations

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Speaker 4: Sam and I meet that make out our map. We

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Speaker 4: just don't have the capacity to serve. And that's always

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Speaker 4: hard for Samini and that's kind of what's always driven

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Speaker 4: everybody action. Our van is called Lady Row really saying

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Speaker 4: not today but maybe tomorrow, is like always working towards

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Speaker 4: cycle of tomorrow. But it's definitely only getting worse, and

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Speaker 4: we're trying to band together and making much change as

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Speaker 4: quickly as possible. We're working on a warehouse it's called

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Speaker 4: the Food and Security Shared Hub that's in partnership with

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Speaker 4: for other nonprofits and that's really working on collaboration and

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Speaker 4: will hopefully allow for us to take more food donations,

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Speaker 4: will hopefully increase our driver program. You know, we're only

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Speaker 4: trying to provide more jobs and reallocate more food. To me,

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Speaker 4: the statement that people are hungry in America is the

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Speaker 4: dumbest thing you can say. There's a grocery store everywhere.

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Speaker 4: There's some systematic flaw that's preventing food from getting to

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Speaker 4: people who need it. So we need to create systems

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Speaker 4: that we use food instead of throwing it out, because

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Speaker 4: we also have a massive waste issue. So we just

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Speaker 4: need to break that cycle and put them in another way,

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Speaker 4: which I feel like Everydy Action does really well.

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Speaker 3: So walking through how does people sign up to get

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Speaker 3: into Everyday Action?

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Speaker 5: So they sign up with us online and then our

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Speaker 5: amazing volunteer coordinator, Andrew takes them through the whole volunteer

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Speaker 5: process of paperwork, and then they're handed over to me

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Speaker 5: for scheduling and I schedule them with an experienced driver

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Speaker 5: or myself. Sometimes it's always a surprise and they get

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Speaker 5: to do their first training one with someone they meet up.

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Speaker 5: You can go together or you can ride separately, it

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Speaker 5: doesn't matter. You just go through the actions together. Action

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Speaker 5: it's my theme today. So you go through the action together.

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Speaker 5: You show up, you pick up the food, and then

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Speaker 5: you take it to a drop off spot. I have

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Speaker 5: a suggested drop off spot, but you also can choose

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Speaker 5: a spot on the map. So we really kind of

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Speaker 5: leave it up to our drivers. We really want to

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Speaker 5: give a lot of independent star drivers and just freedom

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Speaker 5: so you can sort of pick up this job, do

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Speaker 5: it for a few hours, then go back to another

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Speaker 5: job if you need. It's one of those things you

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Speaker 5: can volunteer for and do a few hours. You know,

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Speaker 5: I can give you one run. You do that for

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Speaker 5: a couple hours and you're done. It's very it's very

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Speaker 5: straightforward and I'm pretty simple. The only thing that is

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Speaker 5: sort of influx is timing because the film industry and

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Speaker 5: TV industry.

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Speaker 6: Is never on time.

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Speaker 5: I can't say never, but more often than not, you know,

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Speaker 5: timing shifts, so you just have to be a little

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Speaker 5: fluid and flexible.

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Speaker 6: That's all we ask.

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Speaker 5: And really, for me, every time I've ever felt bad

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Speaker 5: like quitting just everything and really hopeless, I will force

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Speaker 5: myself out from behind the desk and go and do

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Speaker 5: a pickup myself. Sometimes it's to save us a little

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Speaker 5: money so we can have more to put back in

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Speaker 5: the driver program. And sometimes it's because I genuinely need

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Speaker 5: it myself. And I can tell you that I've never

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Speaker 5: walked away from a run. Even after I broke my

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Speaker 5: finger on a fridge store this summer, I still didn't

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Speaker 5: walk away from any of that with anything but thankfulness

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Speaker 5: and gratefulness and honestly doing this work it BLUs you

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Speaker 5: a lot more than those you're blessing. You think that

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Speaker 5: you're helping others, but you're also really really helping yourself.

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Speaker 1: That's the essence of mutual eight.

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Speaker 6: Yes, yes, it is.

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Speaker 3: What challenges do you see in the program that you

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Speaker 3: wish could be undone or rectified in a way that

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Speaker 3: it's beneficial and also it doesn't reoccur.

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Speaker 4: I mean, we've always struggled with packaging. So in individual

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Speaker 4: food there's packaging which is further waste. So we always

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Speaker 4: want to try for that packaging to be the most

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Speaker 4: environmentally friendly as possible. Currently, World Centric really supports us

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Speaker 4: in that effort. But we always have a lot of packaging,

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Speaker 4: and it varies if it's on in catering trades or

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Speaker 4: an individual so finding way to streamline that. Also, we

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Speaker 4: have a lot of stuff operationally, we have scales, we

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Speaker 4: have thermometers, we have a lot of equipment that a

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Speaker 4: lot of people use.

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Speaker 6: It's hard to keep track of, so, you.

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Speaker 4: Know, systems to keep track of the things we do internally.

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Speaker 4: Data has always been a challenge and a struggle as

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Speaker 4: a nonprofit. You know, it first started with Samini and

396
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Speaker 4: a Gmail calendar and just post it notes, and then

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Speaker 4: after that was over ten thousand meals, realized that was

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Speaker 4: not going to work. You know.

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Speaker 6: We moved to then.

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Speaker 4: Excel, a spreadsheet that our previous board member and president

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00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,080
Speaker 4: Laney developed and really helped get our data to a

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Speaker 4: certain point. We've then now switched to an app program

403
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Speaker 4: this company, Hyperniche that's helping develop our app and create

404
00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:22,080
Speaker 4: a system where we can really log meals real time.

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Speaker 4: But we have a volunteer team that helps us do that,

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00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,000
Speaker 4: so we're just a little bit behind. So just really

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00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,520
Speaker 4: getting operational support for everyday action so that we can

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00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,200
Speaker 4: continue the work that we're doing and continue expanding because

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Speaker 4: we've always expanded while we've been growing at the same

410
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,040
Speaker 4: time and that's hard to keep up with and we

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Speaker 4: just need to be able to like have the support

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00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:43,040
Speaker 4: so we can keep doing what we're doing because it

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Speaker 4: always keeps growing.

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Speaker 6: It always keeps getting bigger well, and.

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Speaker 5: People are always really surprised that it's just the two

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00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:54,280
Speaker 5: of us and you know, and a few like volunteers

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00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:57,240
Speaker 5: who support us. Like, we've really not had a whole

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Speaker 5: lot of like internal structural support. So while it's like

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00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:03,200
Speaker 5: really impressive that we could do that, it wouldn't be

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Speaker 5: It would have been so much more helpful to have,

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00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:08,479
Speaker 5: you know, those structures sort of built first. But you know,

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00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,080
Speaker 5: it just the time didn't call for that. And I

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Speaker 5: don't think there's anything bad about the way we've run

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Speaker 5: it either. You know, we've been able to do it.

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Speaker 5: It's really impressive that, you know, our small little team

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Speaker 5: of drivers have reallocated over one hundred thousand pounds of

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Speaker 5: food this year so far, you know, in the year's

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00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,720
Speaker 5: not over yet. It's amazing to me sometimes that little

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00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:30,640
Speaker 5: team will move thousands of pounds of food and I'm

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Speaker 5: right there alongside with them carrying it. And you know,

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00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:35,600
Speaker 5: those are the only things that I can think of too,

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00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,919
Speaker 5: that I would change for us. Other than that, you know,

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Speaker 5: I would love to have the driver program at a

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00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,159
Speaker 5: higher stipend rate, you know, but that's also something that

435
00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:46,800
Speaker 5: is something we always had to grow into. It's never

436
00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,159
Speaker 5: something we could just sort of start out, you know.

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00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:52,120
Speaker 4: And I think also when it first started, Sam Andi

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Speaker 4: and a few of our drivers were able to go

439
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,320
Speaker 4: directly more to encampments were of people that were living

440
00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:59,640
Speaker 4: on the streets, and we've had to pivot a bit

441
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,520
Speaker 4: with our food to support organizations that then feed people

442
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:04,600
Speaker 4: who are coming into there. I would love to have

443
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:06,920
Speaker 4: the abiliting network to continue to go back and do both,

444
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 4: to be in those organizations and have the abuilding capacity

445
00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:12,480
Speaker 4: to also spend one or two days a week also

446
00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:14,160
Speaker 4: going street by street, ten.

447
00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:17,120
Speaker 3: By ten when we come back more on their work.

448
00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,800
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Weedian House. I'm THEO Henderson. Let's get

449
00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:29,680
Speaker 3: back into the conversation with Hillary and Sam from Everyday Action.

450
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:33,960
Speaker 3: I know due to this weekend and being at the

451
00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:39,399
Speaker 3: Jaytown Action Solidarity Mutual Aid, the doubling of people coming

452
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 3: from not just in our community but all over trying

453
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,760
Speaker 3: to get food and needing food and hungry, and I

454
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,560
Speaker 3: was wondering, how do you guys reconcile? That is, if

455
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,040
Speaker 3: you guys are going to try to find out you

456
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:53,399
Speaker 3: can serve both communities and that doesn't have to be

457
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:54,160
Speaker 3: one or the other.

458
00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,359
Speaker 4: So yeah, we try to really deliver to organizations that

459
00:23:57,440 --> 00:23:59,840
Speaker 4: are serving directly to those communities, and LA community for

460
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 4: which are located all over the city, is where a

461
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,639
Speaker 4: lot of our food goes anyone can access. We support

462
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,560
Speaker 4: that every week, so that's a place where anyone who's

463
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:09,479
Speaker 4: struggling on the street can go directly and take that

464
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:10,680
Speaker 4: food right out.

465
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,119
Speaker 6: And enjoy it.

466
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 5: Really, you know, like Hillary is saying, it also depends

467
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 5: on how we receive the food. You know, I can't

468
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:19,600
Speaker 5: just send a whole tray to someone who's in house

469
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,960
Speaker 5: who has no refrigeration and no way to even portion

470
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,440
Speaker 5: it out and split it up. So for us, that's

471
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,159
Speaker 5: been you know, that's been quite limiting. But you know,

472
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:30,920
Speaker 5: I know that we have a few volunteers and drivers

473
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:34,640
Speaker 5: who still pound the streets and will go and donate

474
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,680
Speaker 5: the food themselves. I try to whenever I can as well,

475
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:40,440
Speaker 5: especially when I'm driving the van. I just how can

476
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,320
Speaker 5: I pass someone in the branded van and have no meals,

477
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,080
Speaker 5: which happens a lot sadly, but I at least try

478
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:48,520
Speaker 5: to have some socks on me. But we want to

479
00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:51,879
Speaker 5: help as many people as we can across many different

480
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:54,960
Speaker 5: varieties of food insecurity. If you're a house, if you're

481
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,760
Speaker 5: on housed, it doesn't matter how you look. We've always

482
00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,399
Speaker 5: said I don't need your paperwork. I don't need to

483
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:02,560
Speaker 5: know anything except I need to know you're hungry.

484
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:03,360
Speaker 1: That's it.

485
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,560
Speaker 3: Well, if we're dealing with nonprofit now, you're probably going

486
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:08,560
Speaker 3: to have to find some kind of way to keep

487
00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,920
Speaker 3: sustain that. But yeah, when you first in the grassroots era,

488
00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:15,320
Speaker 3: the need is there and you're not focused on watching

489
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:17,800
Speaker 3: your pockets or you know, or checking every box.

490
00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:19,600
Speaker 1: So I definitely understand that our.

491
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:22,120
Speaker 4: Warehouse is actually going to also increase that as well.

492
00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:24,080
Speaker 4: Like Sam said, we can't drop off a catering tray

493
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:25,879
Speaker 4: and we currently have no way to open it. But

494
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 4: hopefully when the warehouse is open, we'll be able to

495
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:31,080
Speaker 4: take those trays, open them, and then individually packaged the

496
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:33,640
Speaker 4: meals like we want to so that we can distribute

497
00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:34,440
Speaker 4: them more directly.

498
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 1: Perfect.

499
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 3: That's my goodness. So you guys have been here for

500
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:41,320
Speaker 3: a little bit of a while. Did you guys start

501
00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:43,160
Speaker 3: during the pandemic or before the pandemic?

502
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:43,399
Speaker 5: Oh?

503
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 4: Yeah, deep COVID twenty twenty. Sam and I were out

504
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,040
Speaker 4: there with hamming whole masks. We look like the people

505
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,160
Speaker 4: from Me Tea coming at you and.

506
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:54,520
Speaker 5: Chased down our first person we ever gave food too,

507
00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:59,120
Speaker 5: because we look so terrifying and our plastic face shield and.

508
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:01,120
Speaker 6: Kitchen rubber gloves.

509
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,640
Speaker 4: Yeah, and starting in a pandemic has been always interesting, right,

510
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:09,879
Speaker 4: because we we thrived in this horrible time and a

511
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:12,959
Speaker 4: lot of nonprofits struggled to continue functioning, so we kind

512
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 4: of filled a gap during that period. So it's we

513
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:19,200
Speaker 4: don't know how to work not in crisis because we

514
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,199
Speaker 4: started in extreme crisis. So when we came out of

515
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,760
Speaker 4: COVID and suddenly like food was less restrictive, we were like,

516
00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:30,240
Speaker 4: oh right, it's not always like this, and things are different,

517
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 4: you know. Originally everything was individually packaged because at that

518
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:35,879
Speaker 4: time in COVID everything had to be so we had

519
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,439
Speaker 4: a lot more individual meals, and then after COVID a

520
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 4: lot of that went back to catering trades.

521
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,080
Speaker 3: And I was that too, and I was literally on

522
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,960
Speaker 3: the street during the COVID time. It was a lot

523
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:47,960
Speaker 3: of mis information and it was a lot to be

524
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:50,919
Speaker 3: learned about COVID, So a lot of places they just

525
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:53,439
Speaker 3: stopped because that they rather aired on the side of

526
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,200
Speaker 3: cost than being on the news. Next thing, this group

527
00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:59,040
Speaker 3: feeding people and like all of the unhouse community just

528
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:01,280
Speaker 3: drops dead from COVID. It was a lot of that,

529
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:03,119
Speaker 3: and it was a lot of hunger, you know. And

530
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 3: I remember I had a broken leg and I was

531
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,720
Speaker 3: trying to navigate the places where I had to even

532
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:12,000
Speaker 3: just go to the bathroom, and then navigating going to

533
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:17,359
Speaker 3: stores or supermarkets and looking at and the scale a

534
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:21,720
Speaker 3: panic that people that were there. And even if you

535
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 3: did have like what I did, I had SNAP. And

536
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:26,760
Speaker 3: even if I did have SNAP and be able to

537
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,919
Speaker 3: rely on the things, people were hoarding it so I

538
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:34,280
Speaker 3: couldn't get it anyway. So it was essential that other groups,

539
00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 3: other mutual a groups that were able to have food

540
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:39,720
Speaker 3: and be able to be flexible, fluid in the matter,

541
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,119
Speaker 3: be able to sustain us until people resolve their scarcity

542
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,440
Speaker 3: index panic and be able to go to stores or

543
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,080
Speaker 3: try to find off the mall stores to be able

544
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,520
Speaker 3: who would accept gr which I was glad they started

545
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:57,359
Speaker 3: to let other stores accept it because of the bestivity

546
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,639
Speaker 3: of where certain stores were. You know, we couldn't just

547
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 3: go into it for hot deal. And if you didn't

548
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:05,919
Speaker 3: understand there's a lot of restrictions to JR Snap and

549
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,240
Speaker 3: people just think you're just eating steak and lobster and

550
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,240
Speaker 3: junk food and things like that, not understanding contacts and

551
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,199
Speaker 3: nuanced It's just, you know, just another reason just to

552
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,639
Speaker 3: blame and just point feeders and hate on people. But

553
00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,119
Speaker 3: the morning the point of it is is that there

554
00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:21,479
Speaker 3: are places on Snap that you could go to have

555
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:22,880
Speaker 3: hot meals and they were shut down.

556
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:24,880
Speaker 1: They were not feeding anybody.

557
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:28,400
Speaker 3: Because again they didn't know how to reconcile the reality

558
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,880
Speaker 3: of what COVID was. So you had to find very

559
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,520
Speaker 3: creative ways to feed yourself or have someone feeds you,

560
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,160
Speaker 3: or find places. And I have to take another shout

561
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:42,120
Speaker 3: out to Melissosadero with Polo Pantry, which really had stepped

562
00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:46,280
Speaker 3: up when other places were unable to create a feeding

563
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:51,239
Speaker 3: schedule or creating situations where unhoused people before which is

564
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,720
Speaker 3: not a common known fact that a lot on house

565
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 3: that did have COVID were not allowed to intermingle with

566
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,320
Speaker 3: house people with COVID. They were sent on the ship

567
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:02,440
Speaker 3: out to the Queen Mary and put out there in

568
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:07,360
Speaker 3: the distance. So those little known facts really revolved a

569
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:09,960
Speaker 3: while and how we had to navigate to defeat them

570
00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,800
Speaker 3: and also be able to meet the need and stay

571
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 3: safe as well.

572
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:18,840
Speaker 5: You know, one thing we found really surprising is how

573
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:23,320
Speaker 5: people actually were much better at social distancing. When we

574
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 5: would hand out meals on the street, people were very

575
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,040
Speaker 5: conscious of what was going on. You know, everyone acted

576
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 5: like Dan has you know, had no idea and a

577
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:35,120
Speaker 5: thousand percent they did. Everyone was very very polite and

578
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 5: would keep their distance when we'd hand out meals. For me, personally,

579
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:42,360
Speaker 5: I have a family member who struggled with houselessness and

580
00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:45,680
Speaker 5: because of you know, mental illness, and to be honest,

581
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 5: every time I look at someone, I just see them

582
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 5: as someone's family member, regardless of what you are anything

583
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:54,880
Speaker 5: like if your house or on house, it doesn't matter.

584
00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 5: You're a human. Everyone is a human, and I think

585
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 5: we really sort of lose that when we have these

586
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,680
Speaker 5: stigmas and have these you know, thoughts of like, oh,

587
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:07,320
Speaker 5: you know, they would know what's happening. Of course, of

588
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,520
Speaker 5: course everyone knew what was going on. And you know,

589
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:14,080
Speaker 5: if anything, I felt more comfortable handing out meals to

590
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:16,920
Speaker 5: the in house than I did in the regular grocery store,

591
00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 5: to be honest, and people were nicer.

592
00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 3: And not only that, it's like because of the delicacy

593
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,000
Speaker 3: of how our health you know, being out here. Yes,

594
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,120
Speaker 3: it's much more vulnerable than I would say, I dare

595
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,920
Speaker 3: say house and housing secure people because we know if

596
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:34,560
Speaker 3: we get a sniffle or a food we're down for

597
00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:35,080
Speaker 3: the count.

598
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:37,440
Speaker 1: And not only that, then we also.

599
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:41,040
Speaker 3: Have to face the scorge of the law enforcement people

600
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:44,480
Speaker 3: that don't like on house people. And it's never great

601
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:48,000
Speaker 3: because I've interviewed people that forced a stage for cancer

602
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:51,040
Speaker 3: and things like that. It is never a good idea,

603
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 3: never a good thing to be vulnerable, be very sick

604
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:58,000
Speaker 3: out on the street because you're susubptitual to anything from

605
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:00,960
Speaker 3: physical health wise, so you know they're going to be

606
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 3: very much more heavily guarded on their health. Yes, you know,

607
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:05,320
Speaker 3: I have to say that is true.

608
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:07,960
Speaker 4: I think it's also important to ask what people need.

609
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,480
Speaker 4: Like a lot of what Samini saw on the fire

610
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:12,760
Speaker 4: response was a lot of like here, this is what

611
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:14,960
Speaker 4: you need, and a lot of things that were donated

612
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,600
Speaker 4: weren't things that actually could be used. And Samini reactually

613
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 4: reallocated from several pop up fire stores. It just had

614
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:23,600
Speaker 4: a bunch of stuff wasn't really helpful, and I think

615
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 4: That's something that we've always really focused on is listening

616
00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 4: to what people need and trying to adapt that support

617
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:31,120
Speaker 4: based on what people need, as opposed to just showing

618
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 4: up and being like, here's what we got.

619
00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:33,560
Speaker 1: I agree.

620
00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:38,200
Speaker 3: You know, ballet slippers are not needed. And really I

621
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 3: say that because I did a comic about it and

622
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:43,120
Speaker 3: people were just using the reason if someone passes away

623
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 3: in the house whatever, just to dump everything and think

624
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,120
Speaker 3: on house. People would just be, oh, great, we'll be

625
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 3: valating on down the street while we're hungry.

626
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:53,360
Speaker 1: So that doesn't not helpful. That's not going to be

627
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:54,600
Speaker 1: a help.

628
00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:58,840
Speaker 5: Yeah. Sometimes we feel like, you know, people sort of

629
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 5: inadvertently will treat us like a trash can you know,

630
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,880
Speaker 5: here's everything, here's don't you want this? Here are these

631
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:11,000
Speaker 5: chairs that were probably urinated on by many animals.

632
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:14,080
Speaker 6: Who knows somewhere considered right like no.

633
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:21,960
Speaker 3: No, yeah, so I mentioned your earlier origin story. Where

634
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:26,840
Speaker 3: do you see yourself with everyday action and five years?

635
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:29,280
Speaker 4: I mean, ultimately I want our warehouse to be up

636
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:32,280
Speaker 4: and running. We really want to help support food reallocation

637
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:35,640
Speaker 4: on a citywide and statewide level. Again, I don't understand

638
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 4: why people are hungry in America. So it's like solving

639
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:41,160
Speaker 4: that problem, working with all the other nonprofits in Los

640
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 4: Angeles and the Food Recovery Alliance and helping to solve

641
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 4: that as a team, because everyday action certainly is not

642
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:49,840
Speaker 4: going to do it by yourself, and then expanding that

643
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,360
Speaker 4: concept to places that are willing and enable. You know,

644
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:54,480
Speaker 4: it's like, if this concept works as we if a

645
00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:56,720
Speaker 4: city are able to figure it out, then we should

646
00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,400
Speaker 4: just replicate that so that we can help solve hunger

647
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:01,880
Speaker 4: across the United States. So I think that, you know,

648
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 4: being a part of that conversation is definitely something that

649
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,080
Speaker 4: we want to do. Our warehouse is going to evolve,

650
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:08,640
Speaker 4: hopefully to be able to serve food on some fridays.

651
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:10,880
Speaker 4: We want to have a community fridge out front of

652
00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:12,360
Speaker 4: our own to be able to put our own food in.

653
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 6: So it's really evolving that.

654
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 4: Warehouse space be able to support as much of the

655
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 4: community as we can, and then if that continues to

656
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:20,080
Speaker 4: grow again, just kind of continuing across the US and

657
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:22,400
Speaker 4: helping to solve and hunger.

658
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:25,200
Speaker 3: That wasn't something you mentioned earlier a few minutes ago

659
00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:28,200
Speaker 3: about community fridge. That was a bit in an everyday

660
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:32,280
Speaker 3: occurrence during pandemic and the city started to crack down

661
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:35,120
Speaker 3: and start throwing food or you know which is again,

662
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:38,479
Speaker 3: it is always amazing how the government is always a

663
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:41,040
Speaker 3: part of the destructive, but never something that's going to

664
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 3: be constructive to meet the moment. And so are you

665
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,440
Speaker 3: worried that the city is going to pick up the

666
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:50,480
Speaker 3: same actipathy that they had with you guys doing the

667
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:51,480
Speaker 3: community fridges.

668
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:54,720
Speaker 4: Well, in California, SB thirteen eighty three exists, which is

669
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,000
Speaker 4: actually a law center bill that it requires food to

670
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 4: be reallocated. So in Los Angeles it's something that they're

671
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 4: actively striving to support.

672
00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:08,759
Speaker 5: The Bill Emerson Good Samariton Act also makes it not

673
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:13,040
Speaker 5: illegal to donate food. The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act.

674
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:18,000
Speaker 5: It's also federal now and it protects you from don

675
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:21,520
Speaker 5: from doing anything good for someone, especially food donation. But

676
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,879
Speaker 5: if you stop to help someone, it's still Good Samaritan law.

677
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:29,839
Speaker 5: That's that's the whole point behind it. And it's been

678
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,600
Speaker 5: a i think sort of a corporate you know, lie,

679
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:37,759
Speaker 5: dare I say that just to you know, protect like

680
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,200
Speaker 5: liability and for us, you know, we have a donation

681
00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:44,120
Speaker 5: agreement for him and many other food recovery services and

682
00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 5: organizations do as well, and we also personally carry our

683
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:53,080
Speaker 5: own customized liability policy to help protect our donors and

684
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:55,760
Speaker 5: also make that whole process, you know, much more easy

685
00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 5: and give our donors a lot of peace of mind

686
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:00,680
Speaker 5: with the legalities of it. But at the end of

687
00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:03,600
Speaker 5: the day, it's not illegal to donate food. It's not

688
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:06,200
Speaker 5: illegal to give someone food, go out and get someone

689
00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:08,280
Speaker 5: a sandwich, it's not illegal.

690
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,759
Speaker 4: And it's actually the same thing as Postmates, Grubhub, any

691
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 4: of those situations. Right, No one when you're hunger at

692
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,319
Speaker 4: your home ordering pizza does someone show up and say, well,

693
00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 4: this food isn't actually at temperature and I don't really

694
00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:23,160
Speaker 4: think that you should have it, and like how long

695
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,240
Speaker 4: are you going to keep it in refrigerator to eat it? Again,

696
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:27,800
Speaker 4: it's only people who don't have access, But there's suddenly

697
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,560
Speaker 4: all these requirements to the things that we just simply need.

698
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:32,839
Speaker 4: But if you can pay for it, that doesn't seem

699
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,480
Speaker 4: to be as much regulation. So that's something that I

700
00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:38,879
Speaker 4: really hope everyday Action challenges. The mindset is that it's

701
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,319
Speaker 4: the same as any of those other circumstances. It's just

702
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 4: for people who can't afford it. And it should exist.

703
00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 4: It should be free because food should be like you

704
00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 4: said at the beginning, everyone needs to eat. So it's

705
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:51,160
Speaker 4: stupid that it's not accessible to all.

706
00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:53,960
Speaker 3: And the reason that and I point this out is

707
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 3: because of our society who has always say it's easy

708
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:02,200
Speaker 3: to demonize before we can crimine people. And I've seen

709
00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:06,520
Speaker 3: in other states that they have aggressively come after people

710
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,160
Speaker 3: trying to feed people that are hungry. And that's like

711
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:14,440
Speaker 3: where our government and law enforcements they feel that function is.

712
00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:19,399
Speaker 3: It's like the vulnerability there's insecurity or there's hunger. This

713
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:21,960
Speaker 3: is where we will just descend on the populace that

714
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:25,399
Speaker 3: need it the most, and knowing that they cannot fight back,

715
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:29,359
Speaker 3: they will use those policies to create a more dystopian

716
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:30,200
Speaker 3: reality for them.

717
00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:33,399
Speaker 4: So well, and there's gaps in between support, right, It's

718
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:34,799
Speaker 4: like you get to one level and then you make

719
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:37,200
Speaker 4: one dollar more, you fall right back to the same

720
00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:39,640
Speaker 4: place you started. So it's not really a cycle build

721
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:41,719
Speaker 4: to get anyone anywhere. It's just meant to kind of

722
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:43,240
Speaker 4: take you to one place and put.

723
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:43,600
Speaker 6: You right back.

724
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:47,920
Speaker 3: Absolutely, wow, this is giving me a lot into us.

725
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:51,360
Speaker 3: So are you guys excited for the Heroes banquet.

726
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:54,120
Speaker 6: Hell where you got to go? So I'm really excited

727
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:55,400
Speaker 6: for her. I am excited.

728
00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,640
Speaker 4: It is something that was sort of a dream from

729
00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,399
Speaker 4: the beginning, and by acts, it didn't this did start,

730
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:04,040
Speaker 4: I mean sewing face masks and a whole other story.

731
00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:06,480
Speaker 4: And during that time, I was watching a lot of

732
00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:08,800
Speaker 4: CNN being very angry, and there was a lot of

733
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:10,880
Speaker 4: similar stuff going on. It was a time of George

734
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:12,960
Speaker 4: Floyd and I was really really angry and I felt

735
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:15,880
Speaker 4: like I had marched, I had done all those things

736
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:19,120
Speaker 4: and nothing was changing. So I am excited because I

737
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:21,520
Speaker 4: want to tell people to put their phone down and listen.

738
00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:23,440
Speaker 4: And I think it's important and I think if we

739
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:26,600
Speaker 4: actually did that, there would be an epic change. And

740
00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:28,640
Speaker 4: I think the generation below us really needs to put

741
00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:29,200
Speaker 4: the phone down.

742
00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:33,920
Speaker 5: Yeah, the same night, I'll actually be at the PVS

743
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:35,719
Speaker 5: SoCal dinner, so oh yeah.

744
00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:36,800
Speaker 6: So I'm really excited.

745
00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:40,080
Speaker 1: Such a modesty they have.

746
00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:43,080
Speaker 5: Like you know, they have so many little awards that

747
00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:45,040
Speaker 5: they have, like a I think it's like the Community

748
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:48,640
Speaker 5: Heroes Award that night, and you know, for me, that's

749
00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 5: really full circle too.

750
00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:50,240
Speaker 6: I'm excited.

751
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:53,280
Speaker 5: I'm I'm I'm missing CNN but you know, we divide

752
00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:56,120
Speaker 5: and conquer since we started, so we're doing it again.

753
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:59,040
Speaker 6: It's okay, But I'm really.

754
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:01,600
Speaker 5: Excited because I grew up on PBS of course, and

755
00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:05,160
Speaker 5: you know, for me, my my dad was an emmigrant

756
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:08,240
Speaker 5: and he actually started a soup kitchen in my hometown,

757
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:11,800
Speaker 5: so I grew up, you know, delivering meals to people

758
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:14,239
Speaker 5: at least once a week, sometimes cooking in the in

759
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:18,120
Speaker 5: the kitchen with everyone. So I've always grown up with

760
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:22,120
Speaker 5: love as an expression, and I'm really excited. This is

761
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:25,319
Speaker 5: like a whole full circle moment for me too, you know,

762
00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:27,040
Speaker 5: to be a part.

763
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:29,560
Speaker 6: Of like PBS two is so big.

764
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:32,320
Speaker 5: I you know, I love the public broadcasting system from

765
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:35,399
Speaker 5: you know, from childhood. So it's a it's like both

766
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,160
Speaker 5: of our dreams get to come true the same night.

767
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:38,600
Speaker 1: Hello, that's awesome.

768
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:44,400
Speaker 4: Toe, It's a really same time. It always happens with Samini,

769
00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:47,000
Speaker 4: but it's co founders. Things tend to fall in the

770
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:47,719
Speaker 4: same darn day.

771
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:48,360
Speaker 6: It's a bummer.

772
00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:51,319
Speaker 3: At least you guys are getting your name out there

773
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,560
Speaker 3: and people are starting to take notice. I took notice

774
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:57,800
Speaker 3: when I seen you guys seeing in real I'm like, oh,

775
00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,439
Speaker 3: you know, and I've always on the lookout. You tried

776
00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:03,440
Speaker 3: to reach in other areas and also reach people that

777
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:07,359
Speaker 3: don't know of course of my show to see that.

778
00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:10,560
Speaker 3: You know, houselessness looks completely different. It's not always the

779
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:12,919
Speaker 3: person that you're seeing out there on the street, and

780
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:17,160
Speaker 3: their story is important, just as other unhoused people interfolded

781
00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:20,759
Speaker 3: into society trying to make it. You know where I

782
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:25,320
Speaker 3: started as on housed. I was unhoused over eight years

783
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:28,799
Speaker 3: and I was an educator and people would always try

784
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:30,960
Speaker 3: to make me as a mascot or a person that

785
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:34,200
Speaker 3: wanted to be out there. Even my closest friends started

786
00:39:34,239 --> 00:39:37,279
Speaker 3: that kind of narrative, and it showed the depth of

787
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,759
Speaker 3: ignorance that it's going on with houselessness. You're a medical

788
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:44,680
Speaker 3: emergency away, which is what happened to me. You know,

789
00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:48,239
Speaker 3: if you don't have independent, wealthy family members, you're going

790
00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:50,719
Speaker 3: to be on the street and you don't have Even

791
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:52,759
Speaker 3: if you did and they just own, then that's a

792
00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 3: different conversation. But the point of it is there are

793
00:39:55,800 --> 00:40:00,759
Speaker 3: society is always geared up for attacking vulnerable or economically

794
00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:05,239
Speaker 3: insecure people to always be on this hamster wheel of

795
00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:09,120
Speaker 3: trying to stay off of it because most people that

796
00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:12,279
Speaker 3: start to look down on other poor people, they don't

797
00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:15,600
Speaker 3: want to be associated or be judged because they know

798
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:18,520
Speaker 3: how hostile our society is, which is a sad statement,

799
00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:19,840
Speaker 3: but I digress.

800
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:22,520
Speaker 4: Actually, one thing that like everybody action was founding and

801
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:25,279
Speaker 4: that I've always wanted to I guess get out. There's like,

802
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:27,399
Speaker 4: why is it so scary to help someone because you're

803
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:28,839
Speaker 4: afraid of what's going to happen to you?

804
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:31,760
Speaker 6: Like that's always really bothered me. In the beginning.

805
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:34,040
Speaker 4: There was many sets that were like, oh, we can't

806
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:36,560
Speaker 4: donate our food because something bad might happen, And it's like,

807
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:37,960
Speaker 4: but something great might happen.

808
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:40,440
Speaker 6: You might feed a bunch of people too, So.

809
00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:42,640
Speaker 4: Let's look at it from that side instead of assuming

810
00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:44,440
Speaker 4: that like all these bad things are just going to

811
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:45,919
Speaker 4: happen because you helped someone today.

812
00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:49,799
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely well, and you know, for us, you know,

813
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:53,319
Speaker 5: we always wanted to give with dignity as well. You know,

814
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:57,040
Speaker 5: I love when people ask us, what can you know?

815
00:40:57,120 --> 00:40:59,960
Speaker 5: What can we do? Well, if you don't volunteer with us,

816
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:02,879
Speaker 5: you don't have to do this. This is our everyday action.

817
00:41:03,719 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 5: You can do something very simple. I would just challenge

818
00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:10,520
Speaker 5: you to take your leftovers from that restaurant that you

819
00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:14,000
Speaker 5: ate at, and go and say hello and introduce yourself

820
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:15,680
Speaker 5: to that person that you didn't want to look in

821
00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:18,359
Speaker 5: the eye when you walked in that restaurant, and hand

822
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:21,279
Speaker 5: them your leftovers and just have a quick, short conversation

823
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:24,360
Speaker 5: with them. You know, you can't imagine how many people

824
00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:28,880
Speaker 5: have probably walked by this human human and not looked

825
00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:32,040
Speaker 5: at them and just pretended they didn't exist. So go

826
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:35,440
Speaker 5: say hello, and go go give some kindness and some food.

827
00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:38,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, services the wrist that you pay on earth. So

828
00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:40,080
Speaker 3: it is very true.

829
00:41:40,440 --> 00:41:42,839
Speaker 5: And I think small changes like that are the way

830
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:46,600
Speaker 5: we create big change, you know, just small increments. It

831
00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:50,280
Speaker 5: is easy to see all the negativity behind the systems

832
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:52,200
Speaker 5: that are really set up to make us all fail

833
00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:55,080
Speaker 5: and to trap you know, anyone who gets caught in it.

834
00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:59,120
Speaker 5: But we can change, and the change starts with each

835
00:41:59,120 --> 00:41:59,440
Speaker 5: of us.

836
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:00,760
Speaker 1: Wow.

837
00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:05,440
Speaker 3: I think I have exhausted every question I asked, and

838
00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:07,799
Speaker 3: I didn't want to come off rude. So if there's

839
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:10,600
Speaker 3: anything that I'm missed, so please let me know. So

840
00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:13,440
Speaker 3: is there any closing remarks that you elct to make?

841
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:15,680
Speaker 4: No, just thank you for having us, you know, I

842
00:42:15,760 --> 00:42:19,640
Speaker 4: really feel that unhoused people also have a really loud

843
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:21,920
Speaker 4: story and we need to tell it. So thank you

844
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:24,719
Speaker 4: for telling people's story. Thank you for continuing to fight

845
00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:27,920
Speaker 4: for people who don't have a voice, and for seeing everyone.

846
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:29,560
Speaker 4: I mean, it's really an honor to be here.

847
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:31,399
Speaker 1: Thank you as honor as mine as well.

848
00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:35,480
Speaker 5: So yeah, most of my pickups I actually tune into

849
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:39,360
Speaker 5: your podcast listen to you, so thank you for keeping

850
00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:42,840
Speaker 5: us informed of the news that's out there and what's happening.

851
00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:46,120
Speaker 5: And you've also you know, traveled around quite a bit too,

852
00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:49,680
Speaker 5: so I really love hearing stories you know, from across

853
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:52,279
Speaker 5: the country too. So it's it's just really beautiful what

854
00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:55,640
Speaker 5: you're doing, and we're just really grateful to be a

855
00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:57,840
Speaker 5: part of it. So it's a huge honor. It's like

856
00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:01,800
Speaker 5: being on a TV show you're a fan of, say well.

857
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:03,640
Speaker 1: Thank you. That's such a kind thing to say.

858
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:07,239
Speaker 3: Well, I am excited, I'm glad, and I hope you

859
00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:09,560
Speaker 3: guys if you guys ever have time to come back

860
00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:11,080
Speaker 3: on my show anytime.

861
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:11,720
Speaker 1: Perfect.

862
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:21,239
Speaker 3: Thanks so much to Sam and Hillary from Everyday Action.

863
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,359
Speaker 3: You can learn more about their works at the link

864
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:27,879
Speaker 3: in the description. To end this episode, I will leave

865
00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 3: you with the quote from Maya Angelo try to be

866
00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:35,000
Speaker 3: a rainbow in someone's cloud. Thank you to Everyday Action,

867
00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:38,200
Speaker 3: nominated to be seeing N's Hero of the Year for

868
00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:43,239
Speaker 3: being the rainbow in someone's cloud. Finally, thank you for

869
00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:46,240
Speaker 3: listening in. If you have a story you like to share,

870
00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:49,839
Speaker 3: please reach out to me at Wiedianhouse at gmail dot

871
00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:54,880
Speaker 3: com or Widianhowees on Instagram. Until the end, may we

872
00:43:55,000 --> 00:44:02,440
Speaker 3: again meet in the light of understanding. William Howes is

873
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:06,000
Speaker 3: a production of iHeartRadio. It is written, hosted, and created

874
00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:11,600
Speaker 3: by me Theo Henderson, our producers Jamie Loftus, Hayley Fager,

875
00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:16,280
Speaker 3: Katie Fischer, and Lyra Smith. Our editor is Adam Wand,

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Speaker 3: our engineer is Joel Jerome, and our local art is

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Speaker 3: also by Katie Fisher.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for listening