Gaines Newborn

Founder & CEO — and a member, like everyone here

I got into this as a teacher. I watched good food get thrown out in our school cafeterias every day, so I started taking the surplus to Skid Row and handing it out myself. Eventually my principal told me I had to stop — we could lose our funding — unless I was a food bank. So I became one.

After twenty-five years in youth work, that pivot made sense: so many of the kids I'd once served were adults now — parents, workers, neighbors — struggling in their own ways. The mission simply grew up with them.

We never set out to be just another food bank. We're here to end hunger and end food waste, and we're open every single day because the need is real every single day. Our dream is to preserve our surplus through freeze-drying — good food turned into meals you can store and heat up easily — so nothing is ever lost. That's our goal, our dream, and the legacy we want to leave.

We stepped into this because no one else would. We even drove freeze-dryers around to other food banks — everyone loved the idea, but no one wanted to take it on. So we did. Now, with our restaurant collaborations and community partners behind us, we're ready to lead as LA's — and America's — first nonprofit freeze-dry center.

I learned early, from my father, my grandfather, and my mentor Jesse Leon, that everyone deserves the dignity of grace — and that we're stronger together. In schools, the real work was weaving a web of support, inside and outside the classroom, so no child fell through the cracks; we're building that same web here, for our neighbors. Food alone isn't enough without housing, health, and hope — so we lock arms with like-minded partners to provide the whole of what dignity requires. When you come here you're served; when you volunteer you're serving. In the end, we are each other.

"Everyone deserves the dignity of grace."