Hollywood-based Project Angel Food, a nonprofit organization that delivers meals to thousands of critically ill patients annually, broke ground on the second phase of its Chuck Lorre Family Foundation Kitchen and Campus project last week.
The nonprofit began work Thursday on the Community Outreach Center portion of the development. The center – the second of two buildings for the campus – will expand client services and add a demonstration kitchen, volunteer center, rooftop herb garden and a research center to the nonprofit.
“This is more than a building. It represents Project Angel Food becoming a national leader in the Food Is Medicine movement,” Proj- ect Angel Food Chief Executive Richard Ayoub said in a statement. “Behind every meal is a person who needs us.
“Long after today, someone will find health, and food, and comfort under the tree we planted together,” Ayoub added.
Founded in 1989 by political activist and two-time presidential aspirant Marianne Williamson, Project Angel Food largely began life as a meal provider for HIV and AIDS patients in the early 1990s. The organization has since provided more than 21 million free meals to the seriously ill, including patients with congestive heart failure, kidney failure, severe diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
The organization has twice been named California’s Nonprofit of the Year by the state legislature.
The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation donated $10 million toward the Kitchen and Campus project’s $55.1 million fundraising goal; Project Angel Food has largely closed that gap, with $53.1 million raised in total to date.
Foundation founder Chuck Lorre – a television writer and producer best known for “Big Bang Theory” spinoff “George & Mandy’s First Marriage” and the Golden Globe-winning “The Kominsky Method” for Netflix – attended the groundbreaking last week.
“I just want to express my gratitude for being part of this organization. It’s humbling to meet people who have been on the front lines, doing the hard work for years and years, providing an incalculable service to those who are going without,” Lorre said. “It’s very personal to me. I’ve been without food; I’ve been without healthy food. It’s nothing I would wish on anyone. It certainly shouldn’t happen in this country. To be part of an organization that’s trying to correct that is humbling.”
New facilities
The new demonstration kitchen will be for other nonprofits as well as caregivers and clients to learn about practical nutrition and cooking processes. The rooftop herb garden will help augment that kitchen and serve as a community gathering space.
A research and policy institute based at the new facility will also provide a space for researchers to study and advance medically tailored meals under Medi-Cal and Medicare coverage.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who represents the Hollywood area, praised Project Angel Food and its supporters as the sorts of partners L.A. County needs.
“We couldn’t do our work without you. The way that you show up in the county is exactly how we want the county to care for our most vulnerable residents,” she said. “I’m excited to see this kind of investment make sure the work that you do reaches everyone who needs it. I’m always going to have your back no matter what.”
