It was my first time at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration.  Nestled in the Civic Center downtown, it’s drab, bureaucratic aesthetic is no frills and all business.  It set the right mood, given that, today, Fed Up with Hunger was all about business.

We came to attend a meeting convened by County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky to review the progress of the county’s audit of its response to food insecurity.  The audit, which was requested by the Board of County Supervisors in response to Fed Up with Hunger’s ”Blueprint to End Hunger in Los Angeles”, will help the county determine how to apply the Blueprint’s recommendations.  Over a half a dozen county department were in attendance, as well as the Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Feeding America’s spoke person David Arquette and the California Food Policy Advocates.  Read more »

The Maggid portion of the Seder tells of the Israelites’ journey from slavery to freedom.  It begins Ha Lachma Anya: let all who are hungry come and eat.  This year, don’t let these words pass by as a perfunctory beginning to the Passover story.  The rising tide of hunger in Los Angeles behooves us as a people remembering the poor bread we ate in the land of our affliction to not sit idly by while people who are hungry in our community suffer.

Please help turn yourself and your guests into educated advocates for the ending of hunger by taking a moment to read aloud the Fed Up With Hunger Maggid.  Your Seder is an opportunity to spread awareness of the hunger that exists in our community and what can be done about. 

We’ve included a ready-to-print-and-stamp advocacy letter in support of a strong reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act with our Maggid.   Join Michelle Obama and Scarlett Johansson in their campaign against child hunger and call on Representative George Miller, the Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, to make the Child Nutrition Act a fiscal priority even during this challenging time for the federal budget.  Preventing hunger-associated malnutrition is one of the most cost-effective ways we can ensure that disadvantaged children have the opportunity to grow up into healthy, productive adults. 

This Passover, bring your celebration of freedom out of the past and into the present by taking action against the modern day Mitzrayim of hunger!

Rabbi Mark S. Diamond, Milken Community High School’s Wendy Ordower and Los Angeles Federation Diller Teen Lindsy Seidel discuss hunger.

More than 150 Muslim, Christian, Jewish and other faith leaders met Tuesday under a sukkah, a traditional Jewish hut, to vow to work together to put an end to hunger in Los Angeles.

Clergy noted that though the goal of eradicating hunger sounds overwhelming, the collaboration of faith communities can make even the most difficult endeavors attainable.

“All movements – against slavery (and other injustices) – all looked romantic and quixotic – but through sheer hard work, people like you and me transform what was impossible into what is possible,” Shakeel Syed, the Executive Director of the Islamic Shura Council, told the crowd gathered at The Jewish Federation Goldsmith Center in Los Angeles. “Now is the time to end hunger.”

Read more »

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is now sporting a Fed Up With Hunger tote. And so can you! Our little black bags will be distributed at upcoming events until we run out. So come out early and often in order to claim your stake in the campaign.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (left) with Board Member Neil Salowitz of our partner organization, MAZON.