Skip to main content
KCAL Insurance Agency

Asian American Non-Profit Organizations in LA and OC Deliver Meals to Healthcare Heroes

by KCALNewsroom

Due to the current COVID-19 crisis, many restaurants have taken a hit to their business. At the same time, many healthcare workers have endured endless hours and stress going days on end without rest or even a decent meal. For that reason, many second-generation Asian Americans decided to work together to find a way to contribute to the community.

Many of these Asian Americans are also leaders of various Asian Pacific Islander (API) non-profit organizations in Los Angeles and Orange County, including Asian Professional Exchange (APEX), Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce & Entrepreneurship NextGen (ACE NextGen), Asian Corporate & Entrepreneur Leaders (ACEL), National Association of Asian American Professionals Los Angeles Chapter & Orange County Chapter (NAAAP-LA & NAAAP-OC), and Taiwanese American Professionals Los Angeles Chapter & Orange County Chapter (TAP-LA & TAP-OC). Together, these nonprofits created an initiative known as the “LA x OC API COVID-19 Relief Fund” to support local restaurants to help them stay in business while also providing meals to healthcare workers to help them stay properly nourished.

Kenny Chang, President of KCAL (second from the left) and Angela Chang, Chief Strategy Officer of KCAL (leftmost)
deliver meals from Taipei Bistro to the Sunny View Care Center night staff

Angela Chang, President of the ACE NextGen SoCal Chapter and Chief Strategy Officer of KCAL stated that her and her friends were concerned about the restaurant industry as many restaurants were hit hard by the outbreak and many unlikely to recover and resume normal business operations. At the same time, they also noticed that many of the frontline healthcare workers were overworked, going days on end without rest or food. With this in mind, her and her friends came up with a plan to address both issues, which was to purchase meals from local restaurants and safely deliver them to healthcare workers. By doing so, they would be able to support local restaurants while providing proper nourishment to healthcare workers at the same time.

As one of the initial organizers of this initiative, Angela Chang reached out to the leaders of seven different non-profit organizations who were unfamiliar with one another, and set up a virtual meeting for everyone to not only connect with each other, but to also share the knowledge and resources each organization was familiar with.

  • Delivering lunch boxes from Four Sea Restaurant to PIH Health Whittier Hospital
  • Donating meals from Peking Tavern to H Claude Hudson Urgent Care
  • Partnered with Spicy Noodle House to deliver meals to UCI Health
  • Donating bread from Sunmerry Bakery to Kaiser Permanente Irvine

In just a few weeks, these nonprofits delivered meals to more than 20 hospitals including Kaiser Permanente, Beverly Hospital, UCI Health, San Gabriel Valley Medical Center, PIH Health Whittier Hospital, and Alhambra Hospital, delivering almost three times a week. They purchased meals from local well-known restaurants including Four Sea, Spicy Noodle House, Sunmerry Bakery, Lee’s Garden, and more.

Organizers of this COVID-19 relief fund host weekly meetings to discuss the latest developments in the initiative.

The API COVID-19 Relief Fund campaign has currently raised over $8,900. If you would like to donate, please visit http://www.bit.ly/apicovidrelief (opens in new tab) for more information. They are constantly updating their page with updates on new donations and deliveries as well as newly partnered restaurants and healthcare facility connections!

For inquiries, please contact them at API.Relief.Fund@gmail.com.