South Bay Food Initiative

Where teenagers tackle hunger in Los Angeles 

Written by Laura Roe Stevens

What started in 2017 as a high school club by three Manhattan Beach students has grown into a nonprofit with hundreds of teenage volunteers on a quest to eradicate hunger in Los Angeles County. The South Bay Food Initiative (SBFI) hosts yearly food drives and organizes volunteer events to raise funds, assisting food banks and pantries. It is run by student volunteers from Mira Costa High School and Palos Verdes High School and enjoys growing assistance from Loyola Marymount High School students and South Bay middle school students.

Founders Ryan Rossow, Andrew Cormack and Max Karambles were sophomores at Mira Costa High School when they created the SBFI “to assist people in the community who didn’t have enough to eat.” As the three volunteered with food pantries and organizations to distribute food, they learned firsthand about the growing food insecurity in Los Angeles County.

A recent study by the University of Southern California reported 1 in 4 residents in Los Angeles County goes hungry. The researchers linked L.A. food insecurity to job losses, illness and lingering debt accrued during the pandemic, and systemic poverty within minority communities.

“Food bank donations are needed now more than ever,” says Rossow, who has continued as CEO of the SBFI and has studied the effects of food insecurity on American families as a student at Vanderbilt University. While the SBFI is run completely by student leaders, Rossow’s mother, Susan, volunteers and assists with operational duties. She has seen the need within Los Angeles County grow and estimates the SBFI has helped “well over 250,000 families, raised $15,000 in donations [for local food banks] and donated more than three tons of food.” 

“The need is not going down. It’s grown incredibly. And with the recent cutback with CalFresh, we’re seeing more need for food,” Susan explains.

In starting their venture, the student leaders of the SBFI outlined three missions: education, eradication of food insecurity and volunteerism. These are the principles the organization continues to successfully incorporate today.

To meet these goals, the SBFI created a website (southbayfoodinitiative.com) offering multiple resources for food assistance. The SBFI also hosts two yearly food drives and coordinates monthly “hands-on events” for volunteers.

“These kids want to volunteer. Each month we have kids volunteering at soup kitchens, outdoor events and assisting the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and Food for Kids,” says Susan. “It never ceases to amaze me, the heart space these kids have.”

The SBFI is growing “exponentially,” and funds raised go directly to food banks. Since the SBFI’s food drives are held at multiple schools, Susan says it currently needs a brick-and-mortar space to store, organize and hand out food.

More students sign up to volunteer each year, according to Ryan, who says it reflects student leaders’ successful educational efforts. “The success of our organization is our high school clubs. Our student leaders, who run the SBFI clubs at high schools, empower their peers to educate, volunteer and motivate others to end food insecurity. Seeing the organization now makes me overjoyed—not only because of how far it has come, but the potential for how far it can go!”