Food means to me family.
It means coming together.
It means laugh.
It means memories.
I really love being able to share what I love,
being able to share my history, being able to share my culture
with other people through food.
And that is why I love it so much.
I am Adrienne Wilson, founder and president of Feed Our Soul.
Feed Our soul is a restorative organization
that focuses on bringing access to fresh fruits and vegetables
to the community of South Los Angeles
We do cooking workshops and educational workshops
where we teach people nutritional literacy,
and environmental science, and food entrepreneurship as well.
There is a huge problem in our supply chain in the food industry.
And I decided that I was going to be a part of the solution to that issue.
-Adrienne. -Hi, Nicole.
[Crosstalk]
-It's so good to see you. -To see you.
-I'm so… -Welcome to SJLI.
Yeah, thank you so much for letting me come and help you
-...and join with the food giveaway today. -Absolutely!
We're going to head to the back, and it's where everything's happening.
Sounds good.
How long has SJLI been here?
You said 11 years.
We've been here… yeah, we've been going strong for 11 years.
The food rescue work we started in about 2017.
And since then, we've given away going on 2 million pounds of produce.
-Two million! -Yeah.
Specifically in Inglewood community?
Inglewood and South LA at large so…
-I'm so excited to be here to help out. -Yeah, I'm happy to have you.
All right, it seems in the back, the truck's here.
Let's head out there and get to it.
Sure, let's get started.
Wow!
So every Friday, we're able to rescue produce with our partners.
This is produce that otherwise would get thrown away,
and it's perfectly good produce,
and we're able to give it to folks for free.
The food comes here from Food Forward.
They go around to farmers
who have excess produce on food that they can't really sell
That was good.
Then they pass them along to organizations like us
so that doesn't go into landfills.
So, we're able to pass it on to the community
so that it reduces food waste.
We'll see you next week.
We'll have over 10,000 pounds of produce here today
that we'll be giving away.
And by and large,
I'm sure it will serve about 20,000 folks with all this good food.
That's amazing! 10,000 pounds.
When the pandemic hit, this was really a spotlight on the food system.
A lot of organizations and a lot of companies shut down,
but that was really when a Social Justice Learning Institute
as well as Feed Our Soul, we both really came together and we're like,
"This is our time to shine."
And we're able to partner with other organizations
so that we can feed the community.
I know that your food has trickled down to me through Feed Our Soul.
So it's amazing how even in a small ecosystem
how food can really travel throughout the city
and make it to people who really need it the most.
Huarache Farms is a cooperative of backyard farms.
We like to donate produce as well to those who are is part of EBT and WIC,
but also things like Food Forward.
Every week, we're harvesting and then replanting…
-Mm-hmm. -… so that it's continuous.
And how many heads are in per block?
-I see… -All total like...
the entire system together is about 1,500 net cups…
-Okay. -… right? So, like
-what's a net cup? -Yeah.
Can kind of see what this looks like here.
A little head, yeah, let's see with the roots on it.
So, a net cup is just a little like plastic cup that can hold...
and support a plant.
-Mm-hmm. -And then,
a little cube is placed into the net cup.
And then, the roots just grow down into the water.
Over the years, I've thought to myself
with such limited backyard space that we have,
our mission isn't to feed the world per se
but rather it's to show people what's possible within a small space.
Mm-hmm, and then, I can be the distributor
and get it to all the people who really need it the most.
SEE-LA, what they do is they provide local farmers' markets all around the city,
and I really love them because they target the food desert neighborhoods
-like Echo Park, Atwater, and Crenshaw. - Thank you.
I've worked with them with doing cooking demonstrations
at the Crenshaw Farmers' Market.
And I also have had a farm stand there as well.
The myth we're trying to exploit is that,
yeah, farmers' markets are only for high-income shoppers
-or only offer very expensive product. -Yeah.
So, for instance, in our South LA markets, you'll see a different mix of prices
that can be more accessible also through our incentive programs
that offer dollar-for-dollar match for EBT
to get extra money to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.
So, since then advising that consumption of healthy foods…
-Yeah. -does it makes...
-...food at the markets more affordable. -Yeah.
Thank you.
Right now there's a push
to make sure that undocumented folks in California can access food benefit.
-It is so important. -Absolutely.
Thank you so much for letting us come
-and join us today… -Yeah, my pleasure.
… and walking us through the Echo Park Farmers' Market.
I really appreciate being a partner with SEE-LA,
and I look forward to work with you guys again.
-Absolutely. -Thank you and…
-I'm going to get some food for myself. -Yeah.
Yay. I'm going to give you a hug now.
I feel so fortunate
that Feed Our Soul is able to partner with incredible organizations
like Social Justice Learning Institute,
like Two Good, because we're able to come together as a community
because we're all fighting to end food waste
and also provide food to the community.
All right.
Three for five. Three for five, ma'am.
Three for five? I got three.
I got three.
I'm ready.