Food for Good •
Actress Jennie Garth stars as a Feeding America ambassador.
SHE ROSE TO STARDOM AS KELLY TAYLOR ON TV’S BEVERLY HILLS, 90210, AND NOW JENNIE GARTH IS USING HER FAME TO HELP FIGHT HUNGER IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
As an ambassador for Feeding America, Jennie has helped sort food at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, worked on the organization’s mobile pantry and been featured in a public service announcement for the food bank.
Jennie says one of her most memorable experiences as an ambassador was volunteering with her daughter Luca at a women’s shelter in downtown Los Angeles, which has been served by the food bank.
“We have been able to speak to and get to know some of these women, and that has been very rewarding,” Jennie says. While the world sometimes shuts out people who are on the streets or in crisis, Feeding America reaches out to them, she notes, “and reminds them that they belong by supporting them.”
Giving back to the community is a personal value of Jennie’s, one that she wants to pass along to her three daughters. She says she and Luca love to volunteer their time together.
“Luca has a big heart and she inspires me to love bigger,” Jennie says.
She knows she is fortunate to have a fan base that gives her a podium so she can be a voice for people in need of nutritious food. “There is so much self-promotion in this industry, and while it’s a vital part of being an actor, it also allows me a huge platform to promote and inspire many, many people—and I can’t imagine not using it for good every chance I get.”
Her volunteer efforts are welcomed. Roger Castle of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank says that more than 2 million people are facing food insecurity in Los Angeles County and that the county has more food-insecure children than any other county in the United States. “We’re here because of generous community support and volunteers like Jennie.”