In Leimert Park
Earlier this month, Leimert Park’s Open Arms Food Pantry and Resources, 3411 W. 43rd Place, hosted a grocery and diaper giveaway for needy families.
Leimert Park is considered an historical oasis for the local Black community. It is home to home to art, culture and small Black-owned businesses that are of use to the greater South Los Angeles area. Open Arms Food Pantry and Resource Center was established in 2018 when a group of individuals identified a need to assist those who were food insecure, homeless, drug dependent and displaced in Leimert Park. Since then, the organization has grown in terms of the outreach it offers. In the beginning, individuals would travel to Skid Row, local parks and Leimert Park and hand out sandwiches and chips, while asking questions about what services were necessary for survival.
The facility provides non-perishable foods, diapers, baby wipes, hygiene kits, household essentials, formula, vegetables, fruits, canned goods, detergents, paper goods, blankets, shoes, clothing and meal gift cards. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the hours of 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., residents experiencing hardship can come and pick up groceries and free supplies. Open Arms has partnered with charitable organizations, including the Ronald McDonald and Sisters of Watts foundations. They have a warehouse which holds a larger amount of inventory from their warehouse and gives free resources to all agencies that they are partnered with.
Additionally, Open Arms has assisted formerly incarcerated individuals with supplies that may be needed. Myeta Perdomo, founder of Open Arms, said she hopes to expand the food pantry program in the near future.
“Where we’re a full-service community center and we have our food program on one end and then on the other end we have a more stable sit-down area, we can provide a soup kitchen and laundry services.,” Perdomo said.
For more information or to find out how you can contribute to Open Arms, visit: Home (openarmscharityla.org).
