Students serve up meals for the needy this holiday

UCLA students joined a dozen volunteers who served meat entrees,
fresh salad, La Brea bakery bread and hot soup to hundreds of
homeless people lined up at the Hollywood intersection of Sycamore
Avenue and Romaine Street over Thanksgiving break.

This quiet, industrial street corner attracts volunteers and
long lines of homeless people every night from 6 to 8 as a result
of the partnership between the UCLA Mobile Clinic Project and the
Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition, which has been has been
feeding the homeless of the Hollywood region nightly since 1987.
The coalition joined forces six years ago with UCLA’s Mobile
Clinic Project in an effort to get students involved.

The Mobile Clinic Project is a student-run, street-based program
that provides health and social services to the homeless and
medically indigent in the Hollywood and West Hollywood area,
according to its Web site.

Students in the Mobile Clinic class, taught by UCLA School of
Public Health teacher Koy Parada, often spend their free time
assisting the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition.

The class focuses on various factors that affect the health of
the homeless and gives students hands-on experience working with
their medical issues, Parada said.

From there, the Mobile Clinic students serve hot meals to the
homeless with the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition in order to
reconnect with clients they treated earlier.

Several UCLA students spent a portion of their Thanksgiving
break feeding the homeless with the Greater West Hollywood Food
Coalition, and those who went said they were pleased to help during
the holiday season, and believed they were acting accordingly with
the holiday spirit.

“Thanksgiving helps me realize how fortunate we are and
how much we have to contribute. Lending a hand at the Greater West
Hollywood Food Coalition this Thanksgiving weekend reminds me of
the genuine spirit of the holiday,” said Alissa Minkovsky, a
fourth-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student
who is in Parada’s class.

Ted Landreth, the director of the Greater West Hollywood Food
Coalition, said his organization has a firm and effective
relationship with the undergraduate students in Koy’s Mobile
Clinic class. He added that the organization relies on the students
throughout the year, including holiday breaks.

“Being able to help out this community is so rewarding
because you can tell how everyone appreciates the fact that you are
out there,” said Denise Ho, a third-year biology student.

The people the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition serve
predominately fall under the lower income bracket and come from
dysfunctional or fragmented families.

In addition, a high number of homeless individuals in the
Hollywood area are teenage runaways escaping domestic abuse who end
up living on the streets, Landreth said.

“Helping out … over Thanksgiving break is a humbling
experience which reflects the fact that humans come from all walks
of life,” said Andrew Son, a fourth-year neuroscience student
who spent Sunday night feeding the homeless.

Some students, such as Renee Choi of the UCLA Hunger Project,
volunteered over the break unaffiliated with a UCLA
organization.

“I think you’d be surprised by the amount of student
awareness and action that is taking place (over Thanksgiving
break),” Choi said.

Landreth said all UCLA students, not only those involved with
the Mobile Clinic, are encouraged to help out any night of the
year.

“We would still like to have students from other
disciplines involved in our efforts to help the homeless and hungry
people we serve,” Landreth said.

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