Who We Are… The Hawaiian Gardens Food Bank is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the community and changing lives by helping people help themselves. During challenging times when providing the essentials becomes difficult, the Hawaiian Gardens Food Bank provides hope to many families through its nourishment program, job skill training and self-enrichment workshops. The success of the Hawaiian Garden Food Bank depends on the cooperative effort between the Irving Moskowitz Foundation who contributes 60% towards the purchase of food and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank who donates forty percent of the food distributed to needy families.
Mission: To provide food and other resources to families in need. To accomplish our mission to end hunger we will:
- Solicit surplus food from distributors and distribute it to needy families
- Form strong partnerships with local grocery stores, produce distributors, and other non-profit organizations.
- Find additional resources to fight hunger
- Raise hunger awareness and increase community outreach
- Provide additional resources and services for needy families
As a result of the recession, the number of Americans who lack food has peaked to its all time highest. As the country begins to move out of the recession, there is still millions of Americans struggling to provide food and other basic needs for their families.
The Moskowitz Foundation is the primary supporter of the initiative to end hunger in our community, founder Dr. Moskowitz says, “I remember growing up hungry, but I cannot sit idly by and watch children in our community grow up without food to eat.” His humanitarian believes drive this initiative to provide food, as well as educational workshops, job development, computer classes and other self-enrichment programs for needy families.
What We Do… As part of the initiative to end hunger the Hawaiian Gardens Food Bank currently serves over 1,000 families (approximately 5,500 individuals) on a weekly basis. The goal of the organization is to provide needy families with nutritious food as well as resources and program that will help people get back on their feet. In conjunction with the Irving Moskowitz Foundation, the Hawaiian Gardens Food Bank organizes and coordinates all programs and services offered to the community. The Irving Moskowitz Foundation distributes:
- $97,161.00 worth of food in 2008
- Year to date since 1988 over $9,139,383 worth of food have been given
The Foundation also pays all operating expenses for the Hawaiian Gardens Food Bank. Each Food Bank recipient receives produce, grains, canned goods, juice, yogurt, tortillas, and bread. In accordance with the organization’s mission no needy resident of Hawaiian Gardens is turned away. The organization is fully committed to provide assistance to as many needy families as possible. In addition to nourishments, all recipients are eligible to also receive weekly vouchers for use at local grocery stores.