PACIFIC PALISADES — Pacific Palisades resident Christine Kanoff helped launch the “Off Their Plate” initiative, which has partnered up with local nearby restaurants to provide 70,000 meals weekly to food insecure medical staff.

The initiative began in Boston and San Francisco and now includes 9 major cities in total including Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C, Pittsburg and New York. This volunteer-led organization has raised nearly $5.7 million with every $100 donated providing 10 meals to healthcare workers or those who face food insecurity. They set a current goal of an additional $1.5 million to serve as many meals as they can during this period.

In the Los Angeles area, Off Their Plate has joined forces with restaurants including Malibu Farms as they served meals to over 14 different hospitals and healthcare facilities such as Sherman Oaks Hospital, Centinela Hospital Medicare and University of Southern California Medical Center. The sponsors of this organizations include Farmers Insurance, Advent International, Sixth Street Partners, Altman Vilandrie & Company and many more.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food insecurity is a lack of consistent access to enough food for a healthy existing life. An estimated 1 in 9 Americans have been food insecure, which totals to about 37 million people including children.

This nonprofit organization asks for any health partners, restaurant partners or simply volunteers to contribute to the society. For questions about donations, email donations@offtheirplate.org. For any other inquiries, emails can be set to christine@offtheirplate.org.