Nourish LA food pantry is serving hundreds of people a week. Many of them never needed food aid before

LA food banks are usually busy during the holidays, but demand is even higher now. More than 1 million Californians are on unemployment. And one out of every four kids in the state may go to bed hungry each night, according to the California Association of Food Banks.

Natalie Flores is the founder of Nourish LA, a grassroots food pantry and agency of the Westside Food Bank that feeds more than 1000 people a week. She started the food pantry at the beginning of the pandemic in LA in March.

“I talked to a guy that was in a car line waiting, saying, ‘I never thought that I would be in a food line, but I need food, I need help,’” says Flores.