Every Sunday early morning, Luke, who recently lost his job and home after an accident, joins a long line of people waiting close to the corner of 5th St and San Pedro St in Los Angeles, an area known as Skid Row. He looks forward to the old white Ford van arriving with plastic snack bags and a spoon to enjoy their milky cereal. Sometimes, there are fruits, Starbucks pastries, and fresh bread and bagels from Panera. Welcome to the AMURT feeding project in Los Angeles in association with Mamadi’s Kitchen.
Dada Muktatmananda has been managing the food distribution in Los Angeles with a group of dedicated volunteers since 2005. Every month, they distribute 40,000 lbs. of food ( 18 Metric Tons). They collect the food from the Los Angeles Foodback in their 23-year-old van. The vehicle is a white Ford E-350 Triton V10 Club Wagon with a mileage of 158,000 on the odometer. It also has a low backspace between doors and short vertical space, so pallets have to be dismantled to feet in the interior, increasing labor and time.
The iconic white van is worn out from delivering that much food every month. So many people like Luke depend on that food. As the van repairs get more and more frequent and the old-fashioned engine piles up fuel bills, it is time to get Dada and his volunteers a new (secondhand) vehicle.
You can support the L.A. team in buying a high-ceiling van that would resolve the issue of breaking pallets, make it easier for the forklift drivers, and be faster and less labor-intensive. The appropriate van models for the $20,00 goal would be a standard Sprinter diesel 3500, a Ford Transit, or a Dodge Pro Master 3500 intercooler Van.
