Los Angeles, CA. Facing a global pandemic, Project Angel Food needed to rise to the occasion. Richard Ayoub, the executive director of Project Angel Food explains the COVID-19 “forced rapid growth. We had no time to do it, we just had to do it.” The nonprofit was created in 1989 amidst the HIV pandemic as a small kitchen to deliver meals and fight malnutrition in the HIV/AIDS community. Today, the project boasts an 8000 square feet organization serving many other life-threatening illnesses. It was ready to help alleviate suffering from COVID-19.
Staffers say Project Angel Food targets some of the most vulnerable and isolated communities where 62% of its clients are over the age of sixty and 50% are living alone.
In the kitchen, staffers introduced plexiglass, contact-free deliveries, and over 13,000 facemasks to volunteers and clients. “If you build the project, the money will come and clients will come. Within five months, we had 7000 donations! Twice as many as last year because people care about other human beings.” Ayoub added.
Richard Ayoub stepped away from the entertainment business to lead this project. As he put it, “I received the call. And I answered it.” He believes that his organization was born for this pandemic, as it was created “in response to the AIDS crisis when we started sending love in the form of food. Now we’re in the middle of another pandemic so we’re continuing our mission,” Ayoub said. “Everyone is trying to get back into the office, and I never left my office” he added.
Richard Ayoub, executive director of Project Angel Food.
Every year, Project Angel Food turns its parking lot to a gala fundraiser called Angel Awards. This fundraiser has hosted a number of celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Adam Lambert. Last year, the nonprofit raised a record $900,000, far exceeding its target goal of $700,000. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, administrators resorted to a telethon on television. When comparing online donations to the telethon Ayoub explained, “If you talk to a human and make the call, you have a story and a connection and you get to tell that story and get that fulfillment in your heart. We forget that the donors have their own stories.” The livestream of the show can be found on KTLA’s Facebook page and Project Angel Food’s website…and it’s still possible to donate by texting LOVE20 to 50155.
As social distancing guidelines strengthen, Project Angel Food started noticing “their clients feeling more isolated and in need of an extra human touch” Ayoub said. Especially “our clients with COVID-19 are the ones who feel ostracized and it reminds us of the people who have AIDS”, he added. In response, Project Angel Food started a new program called Telephone Angeles where volunteers call the clients to check on their medical and mental health. Keeping volunteers and clients both engaged in the process. Ayoub himself is part of the program, “I was on the phone for about 45 minutes with one client,” he said. “He told me about his problems walking and his wife’s Parkinson’s disease, his wife is also a client”.
Food tray by Project Angel Food.
From Project Angel Food:
Project Angel Food is the loving neighbor who knows that food is medicine, food is love, and food nourishes the soul. We believe no one fighting critical illness should go hungry, which is why we personally deliver, with care and compassion, free medically-tailored meals, handmade with healthy ingredients to those in our community who are hungry and alone.
