Everyday Action (EDA) is reallocating food waste from film and TV sets, directing it toward food-insecure residents of the greater metropolitan area. The Los Angeles-based nonprofit aims to address food insecurity, reduce the industry’s carbon footprint, create tax benefits, and shrink landfills.
After years of working in the film industry, Hillary Cohen and Samantha Luu noticed a problem: the massive amounts of food thrown away after film shoots. They were troubled by this waste given that an estimated 16 percent of city residents live in poverty, according to the U.S. census, and Housing Anywhere reports that the cost of living in Los Angeles is double the national average. Cohen and Luu knew there had to be a solution.
“It’s a problem that can be solved, and it needs to be solved,” Cohen tells Food Tank.
Cohen and Luu founded Everyday Action in the fall of 2020, just months after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The organization takes donated leftover food from film and TV sets, corporate events, grocery stores, and more, reallocating it to food-insecure beneficiaries across a 90-mile area. Its drivers are typically film-industry professionals who need supplemental income.
“I think that food reallocation is a solution to hunger in America, and it’s just going to become more and more prevalent as time goes,” Cohen says. According to Feeding America, about 42 billion kilograms of food is wasted every year. By distributing food that would otherwise be thrown away, EDA works to reduce both food waste and hunger.
The process of reallocation, though, can be challenging, Cohen says. Donors can be wary of the legality of donating food. “In the beginning, we were just trying to convince people that it’s okay to give away gourmet food that you yourself would keep eating. You know, it’s worse to throw it out,” explains Cohen.
The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996 provided liability protection for food donors, and the Food Donation Improvement Act, signed into law in 2022, offers further protection.
Still, Cohen and Luu say that some donors remain concerned that they will be held responsible should the donated products cause recipients harm. That’s why they created a liability clause for EDA contracts, providing reassurance to donors that they would not be held liable.
Packaging and transportation logistics are also consistent challenges for EDA. Every set is different, Cohen says, which means it is an ongoing consideration to ensure that packaging preserves food safety and is managed efficiently. All drivers and reallocators undergo mandatory food safety training, as food deliveries sometimes take place overnight.
Luckily, Cohen says, the years she and Luu spent in the film industry have fortified them against long hours and logistical nightmares. “The only way Sam and I have built this is because we’re assistant directors who can do 700 things at once,” Cohen tells Food Tank. “An assistant director always says yes and figures it out.”
“Planning things on a massive scale, being in charge of reallocating waste, that’s easy for me and Sam,” Cohen says. “It’s allowed for Everyday Action to grow faster than other spaces, because we are such big do-er type humans.”
New warehouse space will also allow EDA to grow further. Cohen says the space, which will be shared with three other nonprofits, is “going to allow EDA to serve all of our beneficiaries more clearly,” by allowing the organization to pause, store food safely in refrigerators, and pay more attention to meeting specific needs. It also allows EDA to take larger donations, as the warehouse can store pallets of food.
Food donation and other types of mutual aid have been especially prevalent in Los Angeles during and after the recent Palisades and Eaton fires. The LA Food Bank reports having increased its poundage intake by 30 percent in the week after the fires started.
“It was beautiful to see Los Angeles respond. In a city full of coordinators, of course, everyone’s going to go off and plan,” Cohen says. “So it was cool to see this massive collective effort coming together. Everyday action certainly had a surplus of people wanting to donate lots of things.”
Looking forward, Cohen says she is focused on securing stable funds for EDA.
For now, Cohen emphasizes the importance of taking action without hesitation. “Everyday Action is about inspiring people to do something every day, whether that is in food insecurity or not,” she explains. “Put your phone down, stop yelling about it, stop talking about it, and go do something.”
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Photo courtesy of Everyday Action
