Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez announced Thursday the launch of the FeedLA initiative, a partnership between the city and the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles focused on alleviating hunger and closing the education gap in low-income communities.
“Throughout this pandemic, our children have suffered tremendously in their development. The world around them changed in a blink of an eye,” Martinez said. “As the chair of the Ad-Hoc Committee on COVID-19, I knew that with extra funding the YMCA-LA would be able to expand their great food program by 1 million meals and now will also be a learning hub where students can get extra tutoring so they don’t fall behind in school.”
Sixteen YMCA programs in Los Angeles will provide 1 million grab and go meals to Angelenos who need it. They will also have programs for contactless grocery pickup and grocery meal delivery to people in isolation, including seniors and those with disabilities.
The locations will also offer Distance Learning Support Programs, including free WiFi for children to connect to for school or tutoring, according to YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles CEO Alan Hostrup.
The FeedLA YMCA-LA Community Empowerment Hub locations are:
— Anderson-Munger Family YMCA at 4301 W. Third St.;
— Collins & Katz Family YMCA at 1466 S. Westgate Ave.;
— Crenshaw Family YMCA at 3820 Santa Rosalia Dr.;
— Culver-Palms Family YMCA at 4500 Sepulveda Blvd.;
— East Valley Family YMCA at 5142 Tujunga Ave.;
— Hollywood YMCA at 1553 N. Schrader Blvd.;
— Ketchum-Downtown YMCA at 2916 W. Eighth St.;
— Mid-Valley Family YMCA at 6901 Lennox Ave.;
— North Valley Family YMCA at 11336 Corbin Ave.;
— Palisades-Malibu YMCA at 821 Via de la Paz;
— San Pedro & Peninsula YMCA at 301 S. Bandini St.;
— Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA at 2900 Whittier Blvd.;
— Weingart YMCA Wellness Center at 9900 S. Vermont Ave.;
— Westchester Family YMCA at 8020 Alverstone St.;
— West Valley Family YMCA 18810 Vanowen St.; and
— Wilmington YMCA at 18810 Vanowen St.
People must register in advance either on-site or online at www.ymcala.org/feedla.
Ten YMCA branches will not participate in the program but will continue the food distribution and distance learning initiatives that they have been doing for residents outside of Los Angeles.