Through hell and back: How Right Mealz got three U-Hauls of supplies to first responders and evacuees

For Right Mealz owner Chris Sweeney, the painful witnessing of Los Angeles County burning made it difficult to, well, just watch it. Instead, he parked a U-Haul in front of his DTLB restaurant and coffee shop. And began telling people that, if they provide the goods, he will deliver them to the various evacuation centers.

Within hours, not just one but three U-Hauls—one extending 26 feet—were filled with everything from bottled water and baby formula to diapers and dog food. It was truly a showing-up-and-showing-out from the Long Beach community.

“I thought I was going to be in front of my place until 9PM,” Chris said. “Come 5 o’clock, we had to tell folks to stop. Long Beach showed up and showed out. What I wasn’t expecting was just how hard it would be to get supplies to where they needed to be.”

Systems were (not shockingly) wrought with overload—but Right Mealz was determined.

Handing keys to what were largely strangers—”These were just kind people who worked with me the whole day and I had never met them before,” Chris said—they trekked to Los Angeles toward stop one: the Dream Center in Echo Park. First drop? Smooth. Second drop? Headed to Koreatown.

Both the Anderson Munger Family YMCA and the Koreatown YMCA were among the many organizations who said they would happily take large loads of donations—so Chris opted to correspond with the K-Town Y for his supplies. Both locations were quite vocal about one thing: They would be accepting donations of items including unopened food—canned and jarred goods, cereal, bread…— clothing, animal food, blankets, hygiene products, emergency supplies, pillows, towels…

Upon arrival at the Vermont Avenue space, volunteers were, in the words of Chris, “extremely overwhelmed.” And ultimately, their goods were not accepted. Turning back around, they returned to the Dream Center, only to be told they would have to return in the morning. Then to the Pasadena Convention Center, so overwhelmed with cross-wired communications and directions that they were, yet again, turned away.

Long Beach helping Long Beach help: Relationships are essential in times like this.

I first received the call from Chris at around 8:45PM. Two large trucks, filled to the brim with supplies, needed a place to go. Exhausted volunteers who had not only helped load but made the trek, crisscrossing Los Angeles in an effort to find a space for these goods, but also wanted to return hom themselves.

Eventually, an even worse situation happened: One of the trucks broke down, prompting a call to AAA in order to get back on the road. Things were beginning to feel like they were falling apart.

“I am in an awful bind,” Chris said—and with that, we began the flurry of networking. I called city leaders, who had already filled their capacity with civic obligations. And I called fellow journalists, like Eater LA’s Mona Holmes, who is doing incredible work of her own on how the food industry has been an essential cog in this entire tragedy. I called organizational leaders, like Blair Cohn, leading his own effort via a collective of Bixby Knolls restaurants to deliver foods.

Each one helped but a direct answer was becoming difficult to reach. And sure enough, it was fellow restaurateurs and all-around Long-Beach-Everything advocates Luis Navarro and Brenda Rivera of Lola’s Mexican Cuisine and The Social List who gave me the ultimate tip to offer Chris: They too had been to many spots—”Each one absolutely wild in terms of just the sheer amount of people needing help and giving help,” Luis said—but the one with open arms was the Rose Bowl.

Right Mealz and its crew were greeted ‘like celebrities’ with their haul of much-needed goods.

“We had just gotten back from donating warm meals to a crowd that definitely needed them,” Brenda said. “To be able to direct more Long Beach people with supplies to where they needed to go was a nice little cherry on top.”

Cherry on top indeed: Upon arrival, workers flashed phone lights and cheered when Chris opened the slider doors to reveal two trucks filled with supplies. Even KTLA wanted to hear Chris’s story, giving Right Mealz and Long Beach some 11PM news action to highlight their efforts.

“It couldn’t have been a better, more opposite reaction than what the night had been leading up to,” Chris said. “Cheers. Whoops. We felt like celebrities. And with each new truck or car, another group of people cheering. They were there to assure that even people like me, just exhausted

The need for better coordinated efforts—because Right Mealz was just one of thousands of businesses willing to help.

This situation brings up a much larger conversation for when this will happen again—and sadly, it almost unmistakenably will. How can restaurants—”non-official” entities, so to speak—be of more streamlined, efficient help in the future? Because whether it is first responders, commanding officers, organizational leaders, or the victims themselves, food is essential. And no one does that better than regional restaurants and those in the industry.

Even more, the food industry is deeply connected to their wide-ranging communities. Their resource capital is almost unmatched: Direct connections to food, cleaning, and utensil suppliers as well as distribution companies. Social media followings with engaged patrons. A high-caliber work ethic that almost stretches across the entirety of its workers.

What this ultimately means is one very beautiful thing: Long Beach and Los Angeles deeply care. It also reveals a massive place for improvement: A way to better connect the food industry with formal relief efforts.

City and County officials: The best way to donate? Give money to the organizations directly related to relief efforts.

In a conversation with Mayor Rex Richard while attempting to alleviate Chris’s situation, he pointed out some very important things to me that everyone should know. The biggest? Donation efforts are admirable, if not outright valiant—but they can also cause disruption or confusion as they require a place to go and manpower to be distributed. And the best way to alleviate those obstacles is through direct donations to the organizations officially involved in relief efforts.

Formal organizations include:

• California Fire Foundation (to donate click here)
• Los Angeles Regional Food Bank (to donate, click here)
• American Red Cross (to donate, click here)
• The Salvation Army (to donate, click here)

However, those aren’t the only entities—there’s GoFundMe, which has collected various fundraisers regarding the fires into one space—and other fire organizations—like the Widows, Orphans & Disabled Firefighters Fund.

My personal favorite? I continually encourage both my food group and readers to donate to the World Central Kitchen, which many restaurants are officially sanctioned by (including Lola’s and The Ordinarie).