Project Angel Food has reopened its doors to volunteers and here’s how you can get involved.

By Heather Newgen

For over 30 years Project Angel Food has served the Los Angeles community by preparing and delivering medically tailored meals to people battling life-threatening illnesses like cancer, kidney disease, heart disease, HIV and other serious health conditions.

“The people we serve are people who can’t shop or cook for themselves. They’re homebound. We all have a neighbor who doesn’t come out of their home. That neighbor is the person we’re taking care of. That neighbor is who we’re the shopper for, the chef for and the delivery person for. They need us. Most of them live alone,” Richard Ayoub, executive director  of Project Angel Food told The Voluntourist.

RELATED: Sharon Stone on star-studded Project Angel Food telethon

He added, “77% of the people we serve tell us we’re there only food source. Could you imagine if we didn’t come knocking at their door, how would they eat?”

The organization has always heavily relied on volunteers to help. Usually 80 percent of the kitchen staff are volunteers, but due to Covid-19, the nonprofit stopped using volunteers.

“The pandemic forced us to put a pause on volunteers. We have now opened up the kitchen to volunteers again, and we opened up drivers to volunteers. We have a volunteer shortage. Yes, we need you back. We want you back and please come back,” Ayoub said.

In the meantime, eight out of work restaurant chefs were hired to help out.

Here’s three ways you can volunteer.

1. Volunteer in the kitchen cooking and packing meals.

Kitchen shifts are from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“In 2020, we cooked and prepared 1 million meals. That’s a lot of meals. They’re all done individually by hand. So we need volunteers to come and lend a hand and I fuse their love and energy in the meals,” Ayoub told us.

2. Deliver the meals.

Volunteers are needed to do about 10 deliveries a day you pick up the meals. You would pick up the food in Hollywood at Project Angel Food and get a chance to meet the clients face to face “with a mask and 6 foot distancing. You can cheer them up and do some good at the same time,” Ayoub  said.

3.  Telephone angels program.

“You can be a telephone buddy with one of our clients who has told us they feel extra lonely and they would love someone to get on the phone and chat with them once a week. Sometimes that conservation is 10 minutes, sometimes it’s 45 minutes or more. It depends on what that client needs to say. Sometimes just having someone on the other end of the phone helps so much. You can do it anywhere. We have a virtual training session that we do. You can be anywhere in the United States or across the world if you’d like,” Ayoub explained.

In addition, Ayoub suggested celebrating your birthday by bringing a group of friends to volunteer.

“It’s a beautiful way to celebrate your birthday by doing something for someone else. It’s a unique way to celebrate. You can come here, be of service and we will serve you a meal. You can eat and have a great time and celebrate knowing you helped a lot of people feel better.”

Project Angel Food has served record numbers of people since the pandemic and will continue to help as many as possible.

[We’ve] “added 800 new people to our program within the last year. We went from serving 1500 people a day to 2300 today and every day. Our motto is for life, for love, for as long as it takes. So these clients, we are keeping them as long as it takes. Some need us for just a few weeks. Some need us for a month, some for a year or even longer. We’re not saying goodbye to them, but we continue to feed them,” Ayoub stated.

To help lighten the financial burden, the “Lead with Love 2021” telethon is back for a second year in a row and aims to raise $1 million dollars, which helps cover the additional food needed for the new clients and the chefs who have replaced about 25 volunteers.

To watch the “Lead with Love 2021” telethon, that’s hosted by “Will & Grace” star Eric McCormack and KTLA 5 morning anchor Jessica Holmes, tune in Saturday July 17th to KTLA 5 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

For more information visit on how to volunteer visit angelfood.org.