Our Charity Partners
We believe in fostering great community, which is why partial proceeds from all of our events benefit local charitable organizations. We are proud to announce that a portion of every Artisanal LA event admission benefits one of these worthy local causes:
Armory Center for the Arts (Holiday 2011)
The Armory is a nonprofit, community-based organization that encourages the creative exchange of ideas through art exhibition and education for students of all ages and backgrounds. Step inside, explore your artistic side, take in our exhibitions. We hope you will become inspired enough to participate in one of our classes and to create your own piece of contemporary art. Think of us as a creative laboratory for contemporary art. We are among a handful of organizations that can present exhibitions and classes at the same time, under one roof, and the only one in Southern California.
Once the home of a National Guard Armory, the renovated space now is a citadel for art appreciation, inspiration and education in Old Town Pasadena — and beyond
St Vincent Meals on Wheels (Spring 2011)
Since 1977, St Vincent Meals on Wheels has delivered life-saving meals and warm greetings to homebound and hungry seniors and disabled or seriously ill adults across Los Angeles. From Skid Row to West Hollywood, the Hollywood Hills to South LA, they deliver to over 3000 clients a day, serving anyone in need regardless of age, race, illness, disability, religion or ability to pay.
As the largest privately funded Meals on Wheels program in the country, St Vincent depends on the generosity of angels— compassionate friends and neighbors whose donations make the work possible—and volunteers, who deliver the thousands of nutritious meals each day. The need for these services is greater than ever with meal programs closing down or cutting back due to lack of funding, more seniors and ill or disabled adults are turning to us for the food they need to survive. St Vincent believes no one should have to choose between food, shelter or medical care. And no one should be left malnourished and alone. We agree. Watch actress Helen Mirren talk about St. Vincent’s great work.
Woolly School Gardens (Fall 2010, Spring 2011)
By encouraging and supporting a garden in every school, we create opportunities for our children to discover fresh food, make healthier food choices, and become better nourished. This past Earth Day, Woolly Pockets of?cially launched Woolly School Garden – an initiative to educate children about plants, nutrition and growing healthy food!
Woolly School Gardens can be built virtually anywhere and offer dynamic, beautiful settings in which to integrate every discipline, cultivating the talents and skills of all students while enriching the students’ capacities of observation and thinking.
Kids can experience a deeper understanding of natural systems and become better stewards of the Earth by designing, cultivating and harvesting school gardens with their own hands. School garden projects nurture community spirit, common purpose, and cultural appreciation. A Woolly School Garden is everything a school needs to create an outdoor garden classroom and begin teaching gardening and nutrition. Just $1,000 per school gets Woolly Pockets, do-it-yourself hardware and instructions, premium soil for edible gardening, organic seeds, planting chart, gardening manual and nutrition curriculum. Watch this great video about Woolly School Gardens now!
LA Regional Food Bank (Fall 2010)
“One out of every seven people in Los Angeles County is at risk of hunger.” Los Angeles Regional Foodbank is a nonpro?t charitable organization that has been serving the disadvantaged of our community since 1973. 2009 marked the Foodbank’s 36th year of service to the residents of Los Angeles County. Today the Foodbank provides food for nearly 900 member agency sites including abused and abandoned children homes, battered women shelters, senior centers, local food pantries, soup kitchens, AIDS hospices, and more.
In 2008, volunteers, financial supporters, product donors and agency networks made it possible to distribute 39 million pounds of food for the hungry in Los Angeles County.
For every dollar donated, Los Angeles Regional Foodbank distributes $5 of food and product. The Los Angeles Regional Foodbank has received the Independent Charities Seal of Excellence.
Mud Baron (Fall 2010, Spring 2011)
Helping the kids of LAUSD grow through edible school garden programs.
The seeds of a thousand lessons are sown in five acres of North Hollywood dirt, tended by a man named Mud. Here in this little-known oasis, Mud Baron and urban teenagers with a heretofore unknown penchant for rare flowers toil under a blazing sun to raise lemon verbena, tomatoes, lettuce and other greenery that hundreds of Los Angeles schools will use to jump-start their gardens this fall. They also cultivate exotic plants, including exuberantly colored dahlias the size of dinner plates, to sell at farmers markets. (Excerpt, LA Times).