Jewish Family Service LA Launches Two New SOVA Food Pantry Pop-Ups

Located in Van Nuys and Inglewood, the pop-ups expand access to food and basic needs for underserved communities

LOS ANGELES — Jewish Family Service LA (JFSLA) is proud to announce the launch of two new SOVA Community Food & Resource Program food pantry pop-ups to address hunger in high-need communities across Los Angeles. The pop-ups will serve students, faculty, and their families at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys and families through the Social Justice Learning Institute in Inglewood.

“While these pop-ups precede the recent SNAP crisis, they highlight the high levels of food insecurity that already existed in our communities,” said Eli Veitzer, CEO of JFSLA. “These partnerships enable JFSLA to better reach Angelenos, meeting them where they are with the resources they need.”

Birmingham High School, the site of one SOVA pop-up, serves many immigrant families in the surrounding community who face barriers to accessing traditional food pantries. The school has operated a small pantry stocked by the YMCA every other month, but this partnership with JFSLA enables them to ramp up capacity and frequency. Located near JFSLA’s SOVA Valley pantry, the Birmingham pop-up will also provide information about JFSLA’s additional central access services.

The Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI) in Inglewood, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of youth and communities of color through education and advocacy, currently provides a range of supportive services, including food and nutrition support. SJLI is expanding from one weekly food distribution to three, and is partnering with JFSLA to provide food for the additional distributions.

SOVA, which in Hebrew means ‘to eat and be satisfied,’ is JFSLA’s hunger response program open to anyone, regardless of background or faith, who needs access to fresh, healthy groceries, essential personal care items, and connections to additional resources.

JFSLA operates two permanent food pantry locations, SOVA Valley in Van Nuys and SOVA West in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood. JFSLA also offers a SOVA pop-up at Plummer Park in West Hollywood and provides pantry inventory to partner organizations in Watts and Northridge. Last year, SOVA served over 25,000 people and distributed more than 2 million pounds of food.

During the government shutdown, new client pantry visits at SOVA increased by 46%, and the total pounds of groceries distributed rose by 13.8%. Early November numbers are already suggesting a sustained spike in demand, even with SNAP benefits reinstated.