WNW + VICE Team Up For FoodFight! Fundraiser
Less than a month ago, Working Not Working launched the Work In Progress program and assembled a task force of 20 diverse creatives who work for companies including Google, Snapchat, XPRIZE and TED to create solutions to LA's biggest civic issues. For our first project, labeled FoodFight!, we partnered with VICE Media, local non-profits including Safe Place For Youth and L.A. Kitchen, and members of the Mayor's Operations Innovation team to develop actionable ideas to reduce food waste and improve access to healthy food at homeless shelters across the city. None of us expected that just a few weeks later, we'd have thousands of fellow Angelenos eager to support our ideas.
Last week, we hosted a fundraiser with VICE at their HQ in Venice to launch FoodFight! There was live music, food, drinks, and art installations. Almost 1,000 people showed up to learn more about what we've been up to and get involved with the cause. Not bad for a Wednesday night in LA. It was great to see so many of our partners representing the mission. The event was catered by St. Joseph Center, whose catering team employs formerly unhoused Angelenos. There was also a food truck from Yalla, who agreed to donate and serve lunch to the homeless youth at Safe Place For Youth after the event. Our drink sponsors were united on this front as well. We served local beer from Angel City Brewery, a negative food waste facility. Wine was provided by OneHope, which donates 50% of its profits to charity. And Echo Park's Winsome restaurant served their Tiki-Novela specialty cocktail, which incorporates the restaurant's unused produce. Following the event, Twice New brought all leftover food and non-perishable items to the Midnight Mission which rounded out a no-waste launch.
While the night was about discovering new ways of giving back, we were all on the receiving end of some great live music. Butter Music & Sound curated the musical performances, with a thunderous psych-rock set by LA-based act Frankie and the Witch Fingers and a soulful DJ set by the Grammy-nominated Mayer Hawthorne.
Members of Deutsch LA's creative team and impact arm, Deutsch Good, curated and concepted an art installation called Fill The Plates to help educate attendees about food waste. LA Daily News photographer Hans Gutknecht exhibited photographs from his new series after a year of photographing LA's homeless population. Skid Robot, the anonymous LA-based artist behind The Living Art Project, also exhibited work.
There's still a ton of work to do to make the kind of impact we're all hoping for, but we're already in awe of how much a smart, talented, creative, and authentic people can accomplish when we rally behind an issue that's narrative needs to change. With just enough structure, some crazy deadlines, and the support of all of our partners, we've started a movement to reduce food waste with FoodFight! And now we need your help. Get involved by supporting your local homeless shelters, volunteer for any/all of our partners listed above, and let your local restaurants know about the initiative. You can learn more by checking out the video below (Password: WIP), created by task force member Little Village Films.
Password: WIP
If you're a restaurant, corporation, event or grocer who would like to donate food OR if you're a non-profit seeking food donations, please follow this link to sign up for and get involved in the the food fight: workingnotworking.com/foodfight.
Thanks to all of our partners and sponsors: Safe Place for Youth, Westside Food Bank, Music Tech and Food, Twice New, St. Joseph Center, Winsome, The L.A. Kitchen, Pomp & Whimsy, Day Beer by 24 Hour Beer, Angel City Brewery, One Hope Wine, Main & Rose, Butter Music & Sound, and The Brand Agency. Shout-out to The Bosco Photo Booth and photographer Eugene Lee for capturing a great night. Check out our Facebook photo album and The Bosco photobooth album for even more. And above all, thank you to VICE's Design Director Dersu Rhodes for all of his support, and the task force, introduced below, for helping to create something actionable and lasting from day one.
