Our Community Dinner is Served Every Night, 365 Days a Year, Rain or Shine, Without Fail
The Hollywood Food Coalition Community Dinner is our signature, longest-running program. We serve nightly to anyone in need of a hot, nutritious meal. Our consistency builds trust with our clients in a way they often don’t find with other agencies.
Here’s why it works.
Every single day, community volunteers join us to turn compassion into action. They help us cook casseroles, salads and soups, and then serve these warm, delicious meals to our guests. Our volunteers are integral to the success of our nightly Community Dinner, and their continued support has sustained our work and our mission since 1987.
We transform thousands of pounds of high-quality rescued food into beautiful and tasty meals.
Here’s how we do it.
We often don’t know what we will be making until we see what food arrives on any given day. Once we see what we have, the creative food-making adventure begins.
We roast and prepare tasty meat, vegetarian and vegan casseroles. We spice up pastas, rice and lentils. We make leafy green salads. Whatever fruit we have that day becomes a colorful fruit salad. The bread is sliced for making sandwiches, and we always include individually wrapped desserts from some of the best bakeries in town.
From 6:30-8:00 pm every night, we welcome guests without knowing in advance how many people will join us. We have never turned anyone away and there has always been enough food for everyone who needs it.
Our volunteers help to make each of our guests feel welcome, comfortable and cared about. We greet everyone who shows up and we take the time to learn their names. If no one has spoken kindly to any of our guests that day, we see that as our job. We remind them that no matter what their current circumstances are, they are valuable people.
Many nights, volunteers distribute clothing, sleeping bags, blankets, lanterns, hygiene kits and other items that are critical to surviving when living outside.
During our Community Dinner, we provide referrals to other social services, answer questions about how to navigate accessing care and share information about our other programs.
