I’ve happened on a lovely group of folks who work at the LA Regional Food Bank, at the City of Industry Facility which is just about the most heavenly volunteer center I’ve ever been to.
With my recent retirement, I harkened back to my fiftieth birthday party which seems only a minute ago, when I invited friends and then School of Theatre colleagues to join me at the Los Angeles branch of the food bank for an early morning of packing boxes.
It’s been almost a score of years since then, mind you, so details are sketchy, but I do remember a lot of comradery and slinging peanut butter jars and applesauce into boxes along an assembly line. I share a few photos from that day; I cherish the many friends who remain as well as those who are no longer with us. It was such a good feeling to package food for community members and after we worked, we came back for a lunch at the rec room in my condo building.
I do remember thinking that I wished I had more time to volunteer but between then and now, time was not plentiful for extracurricular things, and life intervened to keep me busy.
I’m volunteering about twice a week at the City of Industry facility, which has a beautiful volunteer center that accommodates several hundred people as were there Thursday, and multiple production rooms, with much more sophisticated conveyances than were at the 41st St. Place facility back in 2010. In my 45 plus years of working in the theatre, I have worked with many lovely collaborators, having had little chance to volunteer until now, so am most appreciative of the little things that make you want to show up.The volunteer coordinators are cheerful and respectful, always grateful for your coming and participating. The production line workers are organized and efficient and take time to explain carefully the sequence of events.
I happened to come more on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and noticed that there was a group of volunteers who had lanyards with their names and QR codes to check in. They also had work gloves they brought with them and after a few times, I realized that was a good idea to avoid going through multiple pairs of plastic gloves.
This past week, I had come on Wednesday afternoon rather than morning, so didn’t see the group that day. In fact, our numbers were scarce Wednesday but the production line coordinators had a plan to keep the nine of us busy packing smaller boxes. It is always organized and fast, with music to keep you engaged and moving. It’s incredibly satisfying to see the number of kits built at the end of each shift.
Thursday, there were two groups: about twenty-five LA Clippers supporters, and a group of seventy-five folks all wearing Coregiving Tee Shirts from April Housing including their CEO and CFO. This isn’t by any stretch the first corporate group I’ve seen. There have been groups from Johnson and Johnson, and last week a church group from Whittier (Saint Andrews), as well as several realty offices and a bank. I’d guess the Thursday groups in the two production rooms built over 2000 kits. The website tells of many corporate volunteers with repeat visits to the food bank.
I try to do something different each time I go, and so Thursday was putting flyers for recipients of the food about the responsibilities and rights of the recipients from the California Department of Social Services in the boxes as two of the April Housing folks built boxes at the top of the line. The line was hopping. Each day it is likely that the boxes have a different inventory; Thursday’s had eight cans of corn, which meant four stations on the line with each person putting in 2 cans – seems like a lot of corn to me, but I’m not sure what service center was receiving these boxes. Whoever plans the contents of these cardboard boxes has played a game of Tetris packing the prototype; there’s also boxed milk, juice, cereal, cheese, and chili with beans among other items in the boxes. At the end of the line is an elaborate taping machine which has its good days and bad days. After sealing, each box gets a sticker with a list of ingredients and a large yellow sticker advertising it’s need for refrigeration. Last week I was doing the yellow stickers which were a bit of a nightmare. There are certain positions on the line where the famous episode of Lucy and Ethel on the chocolate line is inevitably sited. “Speed it up a little!”
When we took our fifteen-minute break usually about an hour and a half into the 3-hour shift, I joined the group of long-time volunteers and noted that there was a plastic Tupperware container of cookies on the table that one of them, Rick, had made. They were delicious brown butter Earl Gray cookies and he shared with us that he got the recipe from Preppy Kitchen. They were soooo good. Without wanting to be too invasive, I asked them how long they’d been coming to the Food Bank and they had all started coming about five years ago during the pandemic. I only know their names at this point, and that Rick is an extraordinary baker, but look forward to continuing to go on Tuesdays and Thursdays when possible.
My friend Leah is a researcher in the field of food insecurity. We’ve had conversations about the service that these facilities provide to the clients who receive the food, but also the service volunteers receive from participating in this work. I look forward to reading her books in the coming years and try to report about my experiences as a volunteer to help her research along.
Saturday, I went on what is a monthly hike with four USC current and former employees and this time, we started at the top of the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, and then hiked down the Park to Playa trail, which was about four miles in total. When we started out at 8, the hilltop was foggy and the fog only burnt off as we were nearing the end of our hike. There were some amazing spider webs along the trail, which Crystal pointed out and we snapped some shots of. I haven’t identified it yet, but it was really big and pronounced due to the dew.
Our practice is to do the hike, which is usually about 3.5-4 miles in length, (moderate level – there’s always a lot of groaning when we see the rises ahead), and then we go out to eat afterwards. Today, Christina suggested the Café Brasil in Culver City, which was amazing.
Life is rich and full and I’m grateful for every day and every experience.
Last week I had the chance to have lunch with the lovely group of former colleagues and fast friends whom I call the Sages. This time, we had a guest from the East Coast, Annie Wareham! It was so good to catch up.
Have you voted yet?
Iwillvote.com has a lot of information you can use to check that you are registered to vote and to also check the status of your ballot if you mailed it in.
It’s very satisfying and reassuring as well! With only 24 days left until the November 5th end of voting, it’s time to get out and be counted!
Lastly, I completed my patio overhaul this week. Had it tiled and repopulated it with my plants and hummingbird feeders. I’m glad to get a few more lunches and dinners outside before the weather turns cold.
lifeinthethe8tre 