Actress Judy Reyes and UnitedHealthcare Team Up for Volunteer Project at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
Actress Judy Reyes and UnitedHealthcare Team Up for Volunteer Project at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
Award-winning actress Judy Reyes (Scrubs, Devious Maids) and more than 100 UnitedHealthcare employees today will distribute food to more than 200 families through the Los Angeles Regional Food Banks Mobile Food Pantry. The volunteers will also assemble Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) kits for more than 22,000 people in Los Angeles County.
Joining Reyes and UnitedHealthcare employees are La Golda creator George Valencia (27 Wolves) and other members of the La Golda creative team. La Golda is a bilingual (English/Spanish) cartoon starring an eight-year-old girl who has been shuffled around from one orphanage to another. Through her love of soccer, La Golda recruits other international orphans and, as teammates, they overcome their unique circumstances to build a better world for kids. La Golda, the series, is currently in development.
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank partners with more than 670 agencies to distribute food to 1 million hungry people each year, including 400,000 children. The La Golda creative team and UnitedHealthcare employees are working together to help the Food Bank as part of the Los Angeles premiere of La Golda in Los Angeles this evening. UnitedHealthcare is the presenting sponsor for both the volunteer project and the La Golda premiere.
This is the second collaborative volunteer project for UnitedHealthcare and the La Golda creative team. The two groups volunteered together in April at Evas Village, a social service organization in Paterson, N.J., that helps people who are hungry, homeless and addicted.
In Los Angeles County, one in six people face the threat of going hungry, said Michael Flood, President/CEO, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. It is through the support of organizations like UnitedHealthcare and their volunteers that we are able to help fight hunger and serve people in need.
UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the opportunity to support the Food Bank in the fight against hunger in the most populated county in the country, said Brandon Cuevas, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of California. This volunteer activity and our partnership with the La Golda creative team are helping to build a healthier community.
The mission of La Golda is to encourage youth to care for others and take action. By partnering with UnitedHealthcare and volunteering at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, were living this mission, said Valencia. We are proud to partner with UnitedHealthcare to bring the vision of La Golda and to pay it forward in the community where I live.
This project is the latest in UnitedHealthcares Do Good. Live Well. employee volunteer initiative, whose mission is to prevent hunger and obesity, inspire service and encourage volunteerism. For more information about the benefits of volunteering and to find local opportunities to get involved, visit www.DoGoodLiveWell.org. Follow @DoGoodLiveWell on Twitter or like Do Good. Live Well. on Facebook.
About the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
For 41 years, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has worked to mobilize resources in the community to alleviate hunger. With a vision that no one goes hungry in Los Angeles County, the Food Bank has distributed 1 billion pounds of food since its inception. It provides food to 1 million people and in 2013 distributed 60 million pounds of food. The Food Bank collects food from hundreds of resources, which with the help of 32,000 volunteers annually it distributes through a network of more than 670 partner agencies at 1,078 distribution and program sites. In addition, 97 percent of monies raised and in-kind donations go directly to programs. The Food Bank has been recognized by Feeding America for Organizational Efficiency as measured by Meals Distributed per Dollar and Program Expenses Percent of Operating Expenses, as part of the Excellence in Food Banking initiative. For more information or to get involved, visit: www.lafoodbank.org.
About La Golda
La Golda is about an eight-year-old girl who has been shuffled around from one orphanage to another but yet has an amazing and positive outlook on life. Through her love of soccer, or futbol, La Golda recruits other international orphans, and together as teammates, they overcome their unique circumstances to build a better world for kids. Produced in both English and Spanish, the animation hopes to appeal to multicultural audiences. Creator George Valencia notes that, La Golda was inspired by my daughter and our visits to orphanages in Latin America. The project successfully received support through its viral Kickstarter campaign held late 2013 by reaching people who wanted to see it come to life.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 800,000 physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. Globally, UnitedHealthcare serves more than 45 million people in health benefits and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.
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