STATEMENT: Share Our Strength Responds to Los Angeles Wildfires

Contact: Johanna Elsemore, jelsemore@strength.org

Washington, DC — As devastating fires ravage the Los Angeles region, we are closely monitoring the impact on our school and community partners as well as culinary and celebrity supporters, members of our board and leadership council, and some of our most steadfast supporters. Our hearts are heavy as we witness incredible loss. We have been in touch with our staff and partners on the ground to see how we can best support them.

Of utmost concern is the immediate and prolonged impact this disaster will have on kids, families and the greater community. Families are facing the loss of their homes and evacuations, alongside lost jobs and incomes. At the same time, destruction to school buildings and air quality mean school closures - which means the loss of school meals. The result is a situation where many kids and families are facing hunger.

We applaud the heroic work of our local partners who have jumped into action to meet the needs of their local community. LAUSD is operating meal pick-up sites, where students can pick up meals while schools are closed. There are others from the culinary community and community organizations and volunteers providing meals near evacuation centers and affected communities.

A disaster of this magnitude will have a ripple effect, and recovery from this tragedy will take time. In the days, weeks and months ahead we will continue to monitor the impact and needs on the ground and how we can best support local relief efforts as communities navigate recovery and start to rebuild.

In the meantime, we encourage you to support the work of local organizations who are leading emergency relief work on the ground in this time of great need, such as:

We are sending strength to all affected by these disasters.

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About No Kid Hungry

No child should go hungry in America. But millions of kids in the United States live with hunger. No Kid Hungry is working to end childhood hunger by helping launch and improve programs that give all kids the healthy food they need to thrive. This is a problem we know how to solve. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization committed to ending hunger and poverty.