Eager students poured into the crowded front office of Paul Revere Charter Middle School to welcome Deborah Elkins as she carried in bags of leftover bagels, Elkins said.
Elkins has been distributing bagels for three years, after she learned the donated leftovers she brought from New York Bagel Co. in Brentwood to a function in 2012 were given to students.
Elkins, a UCLA alumna, said she realized students of all ages need access to nutritious foods to do well in school. She added she thinks it is especially difficult to afford healthy foods on college campuses in Los Angeles, where the cost of living is high.
She now returns to her alma mater daily to supply the food pantry with donations from local restaurants and grocery stores.
When she was making one of her deliveries to Paul Revere Charter Middle School, Elkins met a teacher who stopped teaching to make popcorn for her students because they were too lethargic and hungry to focus.
Elkins said she and teachers at the middle school realized malnourishment was a learning impediment that could be alleviated by collecting extra food from grocery stores and bringing it to students in need.
Elkins said John Dwight, another teacher at the middle school, also began to provide food for students. His actions freed Elkins to expand to other schools and reach out to more stores for donations, while Dwight ensured that the middle schoolers at Paul Revere were being fed.
“Other people have stepped up and teachers I don’t even know have thanked me for making the school a better place,” Elkins said.
Later that year, Elkins began serving bagels to the Palisades Charter High School football team during after-school practices.
Elkins, nicknamed “Bagel Mom,” soon expanded her daily donations to include fresh produce, school supplies and other foods from different grocery stores that are willing to donate leftovers.
Bakeries and stores are willing to prepare extra food because costs for doing so are minimal, and they can make substantial profits if they sell the products, Elkins explained.
Now, Elkins and her friend Anne Hansen work together to collect food and make deliveries. Their assistant, Mike Friedman, gets up an hour early to pick up supplies from local shops and takes them to the Pacific Palisades school when he drops off his children in the morning.
Friedman said he got involved in food donations after Elkins told him there were students who attend the same schools as his children but do not have access to enough food.
Elkins and her volunteers have fed students at three locations, including UCLA. They donate about $30,000 worth of food monthly to schools in the Palisades alone.
“There’s a lot of hungry people and a lot of food being thrown away,” Friedman said. “All it takes is someone to connect the two.”
After his initial conversation with Elkins, Friedman said he made it his mission to find more places that were willing to donate. He added he was surprised to find stores like Bristol Farms were happy to donate extras that would otherwise go to waste.
“I chose to get involved because the thought of any kids not having enough food is unacceptable to me,” Friedman said.
Other shop owners were hesitant to make donations because they were afraid of being held liable for people who could become sick after eating it. He said some agreed to participate after he explained to them the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, which states companies that donate items to charity are not held responsible for food-borne illnesses that may result.
Now, Bagel Mom and her fellow volunteers bring part of their daily collections to UCLA’s food closet for homeless students to access.
Elkins said she thinks the high cost of living in Los Angeles contributes to food scarcity on the UCLA campus. The Community Programs Office operates the UCLA Food Closet, which is located in the Student Activities Center. Students can come and take items they need, though they are expected to take only what is necessary and asked to be considerate of others who also rely on the pantry for nutrition.
“All they have (in the UCLA food pantry) is dry mac and cheese and beans because the demand (for food) is so high,” Elkins said. “It’s really hard for people to believe (hungry students exist). They just have this image that UCLA students are taken care of and living well.”
She said a key aspect of successfully collecting donations is building relationships with the stores that donate supplies because they will not give their excesses to anyone. She and volunteers from churches and other organizations work to collect and deliver a limited amount of food.
“I know how much food I can get and how little (some students) have, so I’m just trying to close the gap,” Elkins said. “I want to end hunger and I want everyone to feel abundance.”