Pride Pantry Opens

MEETING SCARCITY WITH ABUNDANCE

It’s a Friday afternoon, and a team of Los Angeles LGBT Center staff members and volunteers are working inside Pride Hall at the Anita May Rosenstein Campus, surrounded by stacks of boxes filled with fresh produce and pallets of boxed and canned food. Nearby refrigerators are filled with gallons of milk.

All of it is being prepared for distribution as part of the Center’s new Pride Pantry, an initiative launched in May to help people experiencing food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I got an email from the Center saying this is available if you need it. And, at this point in time, it’s something I really need,” said a Health Services client named Robert, who lost his job as a server at a Burbank restaurant at the start of the health crisis.

Robert took a bus from Burbank after getting word about the pantry.

“My job had to let me go, which was unfortunate because I loved my job,” he said as he looked through a box of produce that included potatoes, romaine lettuce, carrots, oranges, green apples, cantaloupe, onions, and squash. “I usually think there are other people more in need, so I always hold back. But at this point, anything helps. I’m definitely thankful.”

On this June day, Robert discovered Pride Pantry’s box of dry goods included bread; one pound each of white rice, black beans, and pasta; and bottles and cans of pasta sauce, tuna, jam, cold brew coffee, and orange juice.

“I only took as much as I could carry,” said a happy Pride Pantry client named Yvonne. “Now, I have onions so I can make French onion soup, which I love. I have bread, potatoes, and coffee. Do you know what it means to be able to put this on your shelf and know you’re not going to go hungry for a week? I can’t thank them enough.”

The Center’s Director of Culinary Training and Operations Nick Panepinto is among the employees from across various departments—AIDS/LifeCycle, Cultural Arts, Development, Health Services, Legal Services, Marketing & Communications, Public Policy, Senior Services, Volunteer Resources, and Youth Services—who collaborated to help coordinate and launch Pride Pantry.

“We noticed that people who had stable income for years were losing their jobs, and we knew there must be a need for food and nourishment in our community,” explained Panepinto. “At the same time, we had Pride Hall, which was built to be this amazing event space, but we saw it sitting empty day after day.”

Additional Center staff and volunteers have been working every week to package and distribute food.

“It’s been amazing to watch staff, from throughout our organization, be a part of this,” said Kevin McCloskey, associate director of education and youth development. “So many community volunteers have stepped up. Many of the volunteers I’ve met, their jobs are on hold now, and they are here because they have time and want to give back.”

Eden Anaï Luna, manager of the Center's Transgender Economic Empowerment Project, has helped to load the boxes into people’s cars.

“I personally am overjoyed to be able to support this program,” Luna said. “There is such a great need, and the fact that the Center has stepped up to the plate and been able to execute it so seamlessly is phenomenal. It makes me proud to be part of this movement.” Among the dedicated community volunteers is Andy Perez, whose public relations work quickly dried up in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis.

“The first day I volunteered, we had a line of about 25 people before we even opened,” Perez said. “People were really friendly and appreciative. Some of them were shy, but they were so grateful when they got a whole box of dry goods, a whole box of produce, and a whole bag of dairy. It was a really special experience to see them take all of this in and know that they’re going to be okay.”

Food is distributed from Pride Pantry twice a week. The Pantry also serves as a distribution center for Senior Services’ Senior Angels program and two additional Center

locations: Mi Centro, the Center’s partnership location with Latino Equality Alliance in Boyle Heights, and Center South in South Los Angeles. Panepinto and Dina Valenzuela, the Center’s culinary administrative and events coordinator, put a lot of thought every week into what to include in each box of produce and dry goods. “It’s very rewarding for us to receive this beautiful produce, sort through it, and figure out how to give a well-rounded donation,” Valenzuela shared. “We’re constantly thinking about what we would want to receive, and what we can give to a person, that can easily be cooked.” They are also mindful of which products were distributed the previous week. “If people are dependent upon this donation, we want it to be exciting every week for them,” Panepinto said. “We don’t want them to think, ‘Oh, it’s black beans again.’ We want people to feel like there’s love going into these boxes.”

• Center staff and volunteers working inside the Anita

May Rosenstein Campus’ Pride Hall.