Every Day Action

Housing and Homelessness

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

With over 66,000 unhoused in LA; the homelessness crisis in our city is at an all time high. With COVID we saw thousands upon thousands fleeing to the streets for shelter from Santa Clarita to San Pedro and beyond; you can not exit a freeway in Los Angeles without being in the middle of the unhoused. At the same time, there are dozens upon dozens of film crews shooting in the very same locations as those living on the street. Next to every film set is an encampment of souls, seeking selter, food, water- basic human needs. Yet, until now, there has been some great divide between these resources and those who need them. For decades productions have lived in fear of donating to those in need for fear of what might happen to them in return. Hundreds upon thousands of pounds of food is wasted every day in our city next to someone who is unhoused just 10 feet away. This not only adds waste to our landfills and in turn creates more greenhouse gases.

This grant will go towards supporting the expansion of our driver program. We employ background artists, standins, and production assistants who are in between jobs and needing daily work. The more drivers we are able to pay; the more television productions we are able to support. Currently we have 1 full time employee with 4-6 rotating part time employees. We are at our limit of outreach unless we receive more funds. One driver can pick up from up to 5 shows in one day, depending upon our production schedule. Currently we support about 15 shows a day when we are running at full capacity. Once we are able to support a full Southern California film production schedule, picking up from 30+ sets daily, one driver will be able to cover more sets more efficiently due to the number of sets that will fall in the same neighborhoods. This program has the ability to feed thousands across Southern California every week. With proper funding for more full time employees, our outreach on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis will grow exponentially.

Our work is already impacting Los Angeles greatly. The more funds Every Day Action receives the more people we will be able to help across the entire city. In 2020, our first year, we reallocated around 110,000 meals to those in need. Oftentimes the food is picked up and delivered to someone in need within 10 minutes of the donation. There are hundreds of film sets across LA and every day each set wastes hundreds upon thousands of pounds of food. Until very recently, most of that food was thrown out. We carry liability insurance and offer contracts to studios, releasing them of any liability of the food donation. This allows our non-profit to own the food donation from the moment we pick it up and give us the ability to then donate to someone in need. The hot food leaves the caterer and is brought to shelters, community fridges, youth shelters, encampments, and anyone who reaches out needing a meal. We work with every major studio and simply need more funding.

Our outreach is tracked daily by our drivers. When they pick up the food donation from each set; they send in photos, meal counts, & where the donation was given to. After almost 2 years of operation, we are now delivering to almost every shelter that feeds across Los Angeles. Our donation of food, almost daily to some, have allowed many to expand their food service to include lunch as well as dinner. In addition, each nonprofit/shelter is also spending less of their funding on food- since we can bring them gourmet delicious meals that are often a higher quality than the shelter can afford. This puts more funding back into the rehab of the unhoused, since food is no longer a cost. We also supported a non-profit in Skid Row every Tuesday last year; bringing them as many food donations as we could to their weekly meal & aid event. Prior to our involvement, they were serving Dominos Pizzas & were able to provide nutritious meals as an alternative for free for hundreds all year.