A food bank on Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles, California is showing solidarity with striking actors and writers by feeding them for free.
It’s been a little over a week since the members of SAG-AFTRA announced in a July 13 press conference that its members were going on strike. The union, which includes actors, recording artists, radio personalities and other media professionals, joined the WGA, which has been on strike since May 2, putting a pause on the earning potential of almost 200,000 entertainment professionals until a resolution is met.
So, on July 16, actor, comedian, writer and self-described “food bank influencer” Kristina Wong posted an announcement on Instagram that garnered a lot of attention. In the post, Wong describes a deal that she and Glen Curado, CEO and founder of food bank World Harvest, came up with together in response to the first joint walkout of these two labor unions since 1960.
“🛒 FREE GROCERIES FOR SAG- AFTRA actors and WGA writers until the end of the strike!🛒,” Wong wrote in the post's caption. “This is a totally real offer to get our union siblings through this historic fight for our livelihoods!”
Wong instructs people interested to come through and the affectionately named “Uncle Glen Curado” will provide them with a cart of groceries worth over $300. All they need to do is show up Monday through Saturday and show staff their SAG-AFTRA or WGA card.
“You’ll receive a cart of fresh produce and all the staples you need to stay healthy on those picket lines!” Wong added.
While World Harvest has an all-time policy of providing low or no-cost food for anyone who needs it, including working families, veterans, students or seniors whose “financial intake isn’t sufficient to cope with daily food requirements,” this new policy means those actors and writers who are picketing and need food can get a meal.
“I started this project in 2007 to help the working poor. We’ve been around 15 going on 16 years right in the middle of Los Angeles,” Curado tells TODAY.com, adding that while he usually gives out or sells between 50 to 100 cartfulls of food on a typical day, since the announcement, that jumped considerably. “Yesterday we had 180 at the end of the day.”
Wong has been a regular at World Harvest for years and spoke to us along with Corado during a shift she took up, helping with the influx of new faces coming into the food bank that day. She explains why this offer has seemed to hit such a nerve.
“The truth is that over 80% of us don’t qualify for our health insurance. I’ve never qualified as a SAG actor,” Wong tells TODAY.com.
Wong, who is a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Drama, lays out the requirements for qualifying for benefits as a member of SAG, which represents nearly 160,000 people in the entertainment industry and costs $3,000 to join: A member must earn at least $26,470 to get it. In reality, only 12.7% of SAG members qualify for a health plan, according to the union.
“So imagine that over 80% of the union is barely even getting a living wage,” she explains.
While Wong has been a SAG member since 2002, she has worked jobs outside of the industry to make ends meet. A few years ago, she came across World Harvest at a time when she was challenging herself to only spend $50 a month on food in one of the most expensive cities to live in the U.S.
“I used to do background work and eat off craft services,” Wong says, telling an anecdote about how she has been yelled at for putting extra bags of chips in her bag on set. “I was so embarrassed but … Glen is chasing you with food.”
Other folks in the industry are helping out with food, too. For example, “Price is Right” host Drew Carey has offered to buy lunches and dinners for any member of the WGA at two Los Angeles restaurants, already paying for at least $10,000 worth of meals.
With no end in sight for the strike, World Harvest's new policy has been shared around Hollywood, being posted by “Orange is the New Black”stars Taryn Manning and Kimiko Glen, among others. Wong and Curado both say that they are willing to help as long as it takes.
“There were people today who had tears in their eyes, they couldn’t believe how generous this was,” Wong says.
“Several people broke down yesterday and started crying and, you know, I’m a crier and so is my whole team, a world of criers,” Curado adds. “To see the struggle, it’s real. It’s sad that such a great industry that makes millions of dollars can’t even pay somebody a steady income.”
