Los Angeles Challenge 2020 Launches In:
Together, we can make a difference.
Join the Challenge!
View our silent auction HERE
An estimated 2 million people in Los Angeles County live with food insecurity, which means 1 in 5 people who live here may not know where their next meal is coming from. These numbers have only gotten worse since the pandemic began.
As a community, we can put our resources together to do more than any one of us could do alone. We can prevent the hunger and starvation happening right now, today, in our city.
This Los Angeles Challenge 2020 was created to give added support to an organization doing the work of keeping otherwise isolated Angelenos fed every day. If you would like to make a donation to them directly, the link is provided below. All of the proceeds from this fundraiser will go to a local Los Angeles chapter of Meals on Wheels, St. Vincent.
St Vincent’s Meals on Wheels has provided meals & welfare checks for seniors, differently-abled and other vulnerable people staying home in the Los Angeles area for the last 43 years. They also provide pet food through their Bone Appetit program and phone calls to their clients through Caring Connections.
They’ve added over 600 new clients and doubled the amount of meals they serve since the pandemic started:
they are now up to 22,000 meals a week!
The online silent auction will run from August 22nd to September 26th, 2020. There will also be a button for a straight donation, for those who just want to give to this urgent need through this fundraiser.
If you would like to donate something to the auction, THANK YOU!!! Please click the button at the top of this page, or this handy link to fill out the form. If you know of a local artist or business owner with something great to offer in the auction, please Challenge them to donate!
If you want to support a local business *and* our campaign, you can purchase a gift card or product from the business to donate to the auction! Email LAChallenge2020@gmail.com for more information!
So far, our challenge has been accepted by these generous supporters:
The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen
Donated Virtual Services include: life-coaching, fitness training, ballet/ dance lessons, VO/ improv lessons, custom pet portraits, head-shots, creative/ branding consulting, script development and more!
So please bid early & bid often! And challenge your network to participate, as well. You’ll get a notification if you are out-bid, which will give you a chance to jump back in.
You’re invited to join us for a free Virtual Kick-off Event on Saturday August 22nd at 1pm PDT on the St. Vincent Facebook page. The event will feature a variety of lively performances and some surprise guests! We’ll also hear from the folks at St. Vincent, and we’ll discuss some of the auction items in more detail.
Everyone is also welcome to join us on Monday August 24th at 5pm PDT/ 6pm MDT for a Quiz For A Cause, a night of pub quiz via zoom with the fine folks from Geeks Who Drink. Have fun and show off how smart you are (or how much pop-culture you know) while benefiting St. Vincent Meals on Wheels! You can read more info and RSVP on this Facebook event page, or buy tickets here.
Tickets to the Quiz are $6 per device and each team can be 1-6 people. Be sure to choose your team name before buying tickets!
Donate directly to St. Vincent Meals on Wheels here: https://fundraise.stvincentmow.org/give/218720/#!/donation/checkout
Questions? Suggestions?
You can email: LAChallenge2020@gmail.com
or contact Daryl at St. Vincent Meals on Wheels at 213-484-7775
Like & Follow our Facebook page & Instagram to help us expand our reach!
About Us:
Ruth and Michael were inspired to start this challenge after reading about the Long Beach Challenge, created by Mike and Tracy Murchison, who in turn were inspired by Michael Rubin, part owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, and his nationwide “All-In-Challenge Fundraiser”. The goal of each fundraiser is the same: raising money to address food insecurity, which has increased dramatically during the pandemic, but which is an issue for too many during normal times.
We felt we had to do something to try to help. We follow Mr. Rogers‘ famous suggestion to, “look for the helpers” in times like these, and we did. We looked around and saw the Murchisons be inspired by Mr. Rubin’s Challenge, and thought to ourselves, “let’s give that a shot!” We began by reaching out to the Murchisons, to learn from their experiences, and by contacting St. Vincent Meals on Wheels.
Once we had an official plan in place, we began to reach out to our network to secure donations to the auction. We asked those donors to then challenge others to donate, and that’s where we are now. You can donate an auction item here, and watch our Virtual Kick-off Event on Saturday 8/22/20. All of the items and packages will go live during the Kick-off Event and you’ll be able to bid on any and all of them for 4 weeks, until the auction closes on Saturday 9/26/20.
Even if you don’t want to bid on an item or package, you will be able to give any amount to the fundraiser as a direct donation. No amount is too small, because when all of the donations are combined, it will be more than the sum of its parts! It will be our community, our city and our friends, coming together to say, “I see you, and I want to help.”