Updating this post on January 6, 2022 – Kids are still hungry and sandwiches still need to be made. Consider making this part of your New Year’s plan!
Many, many families in LA are generous with their time and money and care deeply about those who have less. One group of concerned mothers calls themselves called Hang Out Do Good or HODG. The membership performs a myriad of good deeds (such as post-carding to get out the vote), and has been delivering over 6500 sandwiches a week to homeless families around town via the Hollywood Food Coalition.
Each Sunday, rain or shine, you can drop 10-20 sandwiches off at a neighborhood spot (see below). Another crew of volunteers will collect the food, and drops it at the Hollywood Food Coalition, who distributes to needy families around town, via 30 other organizations.
Making a few sandwiches is a wonderful project for parents and kids and demonstrates effectively how no gesture is too small to help. Some families decorate the bags, which is another fun project. Bonus: dropping the sandwiches off gives you a lift like no other.
Here is a sign up form. You only need to sign up once. HODG will capture your email and will communicate if necessary. Here are the guidelines:
Most folks make about 10 lunches, but you can make as many or as few as you like. Quality over quantity. We’d rather have 2 great lunches, then 10 meh ones. (in fact we often end up deconstructing and combining meh lunches). Follow good hygiene (Wash hands and wear gloves, pull hair back, no one sick should be making lunches.)
Bags: use any that you like, but make sure they are big enough to hold all the food AND water. These are the ones we use: and, pro tip: find small packages of mustard and mayo on Amazon, too.
Make any kind of sandwich you like. Popular ones are pb+j, turkey, salami and ham. — The only thing that should be “made” is the sandwich. Everything else should be store bought, individually wrapped items. Yes, it’s bad for the planet, but food safety is our concern here. Label the bag with the type of sandwich (*this is important and allows us to give the recipients choice). Be generous. This is the only meal these folks get all day.
Lunches should contain at least 7 items: drink, napkin, sandwich, chips, fruit, cookies, snack (beef jerky, granola bar, nuts…). Lunches must have a drink — anything goes — water, gatorade, capri sun, chocolate milk
The recipients do not have access to a microwave. Melted cheese, or quesadillas or things that are best eaten warm don’t do well. No glass. Some people also add small things like chapstick, hand lotion, hand sanitizer, new hats, new socks. also not required but much appreciated. (but no cash!)
Check this public Google form for DROP OFF addresses – these change from time to time, so it’s good to check regularly.
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