• Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • This Year’s AIDS/LifeCycle Participants on Why They Ride
  • Roxane Gay Celebrates Audre Lorde Health Program at WxW: ‘Care in the Truest Sense of the Word’
  • ‘Introspections’: The Los Angeles LGBT Center Celebrates Senior Artists in a Special Exhibition
  • Bridging Communities While Honoring the Diversity of AANHPI Month: Emiko Kenderes’ Journey at the Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Mpox Resurgence: What You Should Know
  • Pamela Anderson Shares Words of Wisdom at Center Gala: ‘Love Relentlessly’
  • Keke Palmer Celebrates Her Queerness, the LGBTQ+ Community at Center Gala
  • An Unstoppable Force: Center CEO Joe Hollendoner Touts Successes in the Face of Adversity
Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube
LGBT News Now
Learn about career opportunities at the Center
  • Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
LGBT News Now
You are at:Home»Community»Pride Pantry Headquarters Moves Into Permanent Home at Campus Annex

Pride Pantry Headquarters Moves Into Permanent Home at Campus Annex

0
By on September 3, 2021 Community

By Greg Hernandez

Rainbow-colored balloons and cheerful volunteers greeted members of the public on Friday as the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s bustling Pride Pantry opened its new headquarters.

Bags of fresh produce and boxes of dry goods are now being distributed each week from the Center’s building at 1111 Las Palmas Ave., one block east of its initial location on McCadden Place.

Launched in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the pantry had been housed inside of the Pride Hall event space inside of the Center’s flagship Anita May Rosenstein Campus.

Many of the clients who receive food each week are seniors on a fixed income.

“It’s really a godsend,” Mimi Schneider, 80, said as she picked up her groceries. “I have no other way of getting enough food and vegetables.”

Throughout the pandemic, Schneider has been taking two busses from her Hollywood apartment to the Center to pick up her groceries which this week included cauliflower, romaine lettuce, corn flakes, oatmeal, V8 juice and other beverages, and several canned goods.

“I’m on Social Security so there’s very little for me,” she said. “This is really terrific, and I can’t thank the Center enough for thinking of us elder citizens.”

Every Thursday, volunteers and staff members spend the day filling bags and boxes for Friday’s distribution when clients drive up to the check-in area. Volunteers then bring the food to their cars, or the clients can pick it up themselves on foot.

Signs were placed in front of Pride Hall informing people of the move to the Campus Annex building on Las Palmas. Last week, fliers were included in each food box.


Luis Zapata, 69, was all waves and smiles as he arrived at the new Pride Pantry location.

“It’s only a block away from the old place so it’s not a big hike,” he said with a laugh and a shrug of his shoulders. “It’s a good thing what they’re doing. I don’t always have enough money to eat, but I’ve got all kinds of fresh vegetables and cans of food.”

The Center’s Associate Director of Facilities Angela Echeverria is excited about some of the sprucing up done in recent days to the Las Palmas building, including a freshly-painted fence with rainbow-colored pickets in front of the property.

“We were very, very busy all week doing this move, but there have been so many volunteers who have been helping us,” Echeverria said. “We could not do it without them.”

Christina Di Gioia is among the regular volunteers who shows up each Friday unless she’s out of town for work.

“I’ve created lifelong friendships, and I feel great about being able to help in a really tangible way in the community,” Di Gioia said. “There’s a real need right now for this food and these services. A lot of the people come back every week so I’ve been able to get to know them, and they talk about their situations and their lives.”


More than 2,000 boxes and bags of food are distributed monthly from the main Hollywood pantry location, which also supplies groceries for two other Center locations for Friday distribution: Mi Centro in Boyle Heights and Center South in South L.A. near Leimert Park. Food is also distributed to residents of Triangle Square, the Center’s affordable housing complex for seniors.

“The pantry has been an invaluable resource for seniors during the pandemic not only in terms of food insecurity but also from a safety perspective. They don’t have to go out and put themselves at risk in public spaces like a grocery store,” said Michael McFadden, associate director of programs for Senior Services. “Folks have really appreciated and relied on it.”

If you, or someone you know, may benefit from the Pride Pantry, visit https://lalgbtcenter.org/getfood

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Related Posts

This Year’s AIDS/LifeCycle Participants on Why They Ride

Roxane Gay Celebrates Audre Lorde Health Program at WxW: ‘Care in the Truest Sense of the Word’

‘Introspections’: The Los Angeles LGBT Center Celebrates Senior Artists in a Special Exhibition

Comments are closed.

Upcoming Events

Apr 29
April 29 - June 24

A New Brain

May 13
May 13 - June 12

The Bottoming Process

Jun 9
5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Youth PRIDE Prom!

Jun 16
4:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Trans Pride LA 2023: Trans Town Hall

Jun 17
12:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Trans Pride LA 2023: Festival

View Calendar
About Us

LGBT News Now

LGBT News Now is a publication of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019, the Center is the largest LGBT organization in the world, dedicated to building a world where LGBT thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society. Learn more at lalgbtcenter.org.

Follow Us on Instagram

lalgbtcenter

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is building a world where LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society.

Los Angeles LGBT Center
They did it, Joe! Our @AIDSLifeCycle riders have o They did it, Joe! Our @AIDSLifeCycle riders have officially passed their halfway point to Los Angeles, biking over 200 miles from San Francisco. At the rest stop, we caught up with @colmacpro, otherwise known as Mr. Los Angeles Leather 2023. Colin is a #roadie on #AIDSLifeCycle, which means he’s volunteering for the week to keep our riders safe and motivated. “I’ve wanted to do ALC for 10 years,” he says. “When I got kicked out of my childhood home for being gay at the age of 15, the last thing my mom said to me was that I’d die of AIDS. I was terrified [of the virus] for most of my life—but now I’ve had partners who are positive. Growing up and seeing the evolution of HIV/AIDS treatment makes me want to help.” 

Colin is rocking his titleholder sash all week as a tribute to the way the Leather Community was impacted by HIV/AIDS. “We were hit so hard during the epidemic. That means the people still left are the ones who carry on the tradition. In fact, some people wear leather pieces from those we lost to the crisis. It’s our way of remembering them.”

Stay tuned for additional updates from the ride—and follow our friends at @aidslifecycle for more.
Last night, a school board meeting in #Glendale tu Last night, a school board meeting in #Glendale turned violent—with police having to issue a shelter-in-place order for participants. The reason? Glendale Unified was voting to recognize June as #LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Today, the Center issued the above statement. “It’s time we call out these attempts for what they are: Fascism. Pride, on the other hand, is about freedom.” Swipe to read it in full. #SafeSchools #LGBTQPride #OutForSafeSchools
The Los Angeles LGBTQties really turned it out for The Los Angeles LGBTQties really turned it out for #WeHoPride this weekend! Swipe to see some of our favorite highlights from the festivities—including one very good boy who believes in gay rights. (And by the way, thanks to any and all of you for rocking your #CenterYourPride swag. It looks good on you!)

📸 @mammothsprite
Mark your calendars for June 16-17 for the return Mark your calendars for June 16-17 for the return of #TransPrideLA, presented by @weareangelcity. This festival has been observed for more than a decade—making it one of the oldest, dedicated celebrations of Transgender Pride in the country. 

The iconic two-day event takes place at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Hollywood campus and features appearances by Montana state @zoandbehold, @raquel_willis, @laith_ashley, and many more! 

RSVP today at link in bio! 

Stay tuned for more details! 🏳️‍⚧️

#transisbeautiful #ProtectTransKids #TransVisibility #NonBinary #TransIsBeautiful #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransPrideLA #PrideMonth #AngelFC
Happy #Pride to @trinoxadam, the LA-based gay coup Happy #Pride to @trinoxadam, the LA-based gay couple whose photo shoot went viral at the beginning of this month. “Pride, to us, is celebrating and screaming to the world about who you are, with no fucks given,” they told us. “We keep our love alive with honesty and by having different layers to our relationship. We’re homies, friends, family, lovers, husbands, dads, brothers, and besties.” Shoutout to photographer @henryjimenz for capturing their love so beautifully. Want to be featured? Use the #CenterYourPride and you might show up on our page 🥰
Happy #Pride Sunday, fam! Bright and early this mo Happy #Pride Sunday, fam! Bright and early this morning in #SanFrancisco, 1,400 cyclists came together for the 28-year tradition known as #AIDSLifeCycle. A 545-mile bike ride from SF to #LosAngeles, ALC raises millions of dollars for the Los Angeles LGBT Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s crucial, life-saving services. But ALC is so much more than a bike ride or a fundraiser—its participants have come to see it as a family reunion. That’s exactly what drew @CarlitoinLA (pictured) to the ride this year—after years of social distancing, he needed to dust off the cobwebs of his social life, meet new people, and be in community. Weekly rides and meetings with his ALC group, The Trudging Buddies, helped Carlos forge new bonds and hold space for conversations about his own journey. After immigrating to Los Angeles from México at 19, Carlos accessed our services at the Center, where he was diagnosed with HIV. “I knew nothing about it. In fact, I used to have really bad judgment towards people who were living with #HIV,” he says. “But then, I got my medication and attended support groups. If I would have known that this kind of love and community existed when I was first diagnosed, I wouldn’t have been so scared.” Carlos is riding to support the life-affirming services of the Center and the Foundation, and to pay respect to those we’ve lost along the way to HIV/AIDS. “I think of them every time I train,” he says. “I’m no longer embarrassed to say I’m living with HIV. It’s important for Latinos like me to break the stigma.” Head to our Highlights to see more from Day One of AIDS/LifeCycle. 📷 @christopher.arpr
We are disappointed at the anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrati We are disappointed at the anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations at Saticoy Elementary School. The rhetoric used by 'concerned parents' is deeply concerning, as it mirrors the dangerous misinformation campaigns launched against the LGBTQ+ community by far-right activists and religious extremists. The Pride celebration at the school was intended to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and its families, and we firmly believe that families like Chief Impact Officer Terra Russell-Slavin's deserve representation and inclusion in classrooms and school events. As Russell-Slavin said, "My child should not be taught to be ashamed of his mothers. I am not a threat to anyone by loving my family." We stand with LAUSD and are ready to intervene in situations like these. We hope that the parents protesting Pride at Saticoy Elementary will come to an understanding that there is nothing dangerous about the LGBTQ+ community and that embracing love and acceptance is the best way to ensure safety and inclusivity for all.
Happy #Pride—or is it? This year, our community Happy #Pride—or is it? This year, our community is battling a backlash to the tune of 500+ pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation, a misinformation campaign perpetuated by bad actors on the far- and religious right, and the backpedaling of support for Pride by corporations who have profited off our celebrations for the past decade. With our #CenterYourPride campaign, we’re proud to assert that LGBTQ+ people do not belong on the margins—that WE are the Center. And as long as our doors are open, your Center will always be here for you, as the largest #LGBTQ+ nonprofit in the world that provides more direct services to queer and trans people than any other organization. We’ll see you in the streets this season (and every other season). Let’s celebrate proudly together.
This year, we celebrate #Pride with a fierce sense This year, we celebrate #Pride with a fierce sense of urgency. We are the world’s largest direct service provider to LGBTQ+ people—so take it from us when we say Pride is a necessity. Our community is still being impacted by hatred, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, religious zealots, and institutions who discriminate against us. At the Center, we are Proud 365 days a year—because that’s the amount of days per year our doors are open. Happy #PrideMonth, and Happy Pride Always from the 800 employees, service providers, and frontline workers of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. We will always be here for you. 

🎥: 
@laurenfisherstudio @kazziechameleon @mad_maninc @mjlat
@wintersrockent
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Stay Connected
Subscribe
Copyright © 2022 Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.