The homeless feeding program in LA, which currently feeds around 2,000 people a month, was started in 1983 by Delia Parvati Javier, affectionately known as Mama D. Originally from the Philippines, Delia was a charismatic person who came to Los Angeles to work in the film and theatre industry.
Upon seeing the stark contrast of homeless people in downtown LA to the wealthy of Hollywood, she quickly gathered fellow actors to help her in creating this service project. Every Sunday morning, for the next 22 years, Mama D was on the street serving food and distributing clothes to her homeless friends.
Over 25 years ago AMURT signed the first contract with the Los Angeles food bank to receive and distribute food to low-income families, senior citizens and the homeless. The program has been running ever since.
The senior citizen’s Brown Bag program is on Fridays, serving 100 to 130 people weekly with canned foods, fresh produce, packaged goods, bread and dairy products to supplement their paltry social security income.
On Thursdays, a large amount of fresh produce is distributed to 120-130 low-income families. The amount of food transported weekly is between 3000 to 4000 pounds and consists of USDA foods, surplus farmers’ unsold crops which the government buys and distributes to the food banks around the nation, corporate and public donations.
In 2010 over $800,000 of food products were distributed between these two programs.
On Sundays we feed the homeless at Skid Row in downtown LA. A long line awaits us down 5th and San Pedro streets at 8am for breakfast, where we serve fruit, warm porridge with sugar and cinnamon, yogurt, pastries from Starbucks, snacks and juice.
We currently have 9 regular volunteers and 20 others that help on occasion, with an additional 12 volunteers assisting with the Sunday breakfast event.