Long Beach Community Table meeting basic needs programsAt — Long Beach Community Table
Currently we provide food, hygiene products and clothing to approximately 3000 people/week via a variety of distribution programs including gardens in low income areas or schools and colleges, in parks near homeless encampments, at open pantries at our warehouse and via delivery to people who are physically unable to come to us. We are providing gardening and nutrition classes as well. Students will be expected to support these programs in a variety of ways from distribution to data management to social media to fundraising to gardening or providing recipes and other nutritional support and information to our recipients in a variety of venues.
We are expecting significant food shortages by the end of the year so we expect that people will come to see the need for this kind of organization and the importance of sustainability and community. We, as a community, are much more able to meet our needs if we work together and network in ways that allow us all to support each other instead of separately. The benefits are very intersectional. Its better for mental and physical health to know that people care about each other and that there are ways to contribute to their own improved health outcomes. Our main focuses are on dignity and sustainability. Having the ability to obtain free food, hygiene and clothing allows people (especially when someone contributes to the process) to afford other necessities like prescriptions, fuel, housing, etc. and intangibles like self esteem.
There are a wide variety of potential things to do, but we have people who manage each type of program and students would be put in contact with each program coordinator that they are interested in engaging with.
We use gloves, frequent hand washing and other basic measures to help with food distribution. No one is left in the main building alone.
| Hours | Duration |
|---|---|
| 20 | hours per academic term |