Samantha Luu and Hillary Cohen are the founders of Every Day Action, a charity that distributes discarded food from film and television sets to people experiencing homelessness. (photo courtesy of Kathy Schuh Photography)

March is Women’s History Month, and every week this month the Beverly Press and Park Labrea News are paying tribute to women who help our community thrive.

Every Day Action founders Hillary Cohen and Samantha Luu know life on movie sets inside and out. Each has years of experience working on films and television shows, and both are products of the Director’s Guild of America trainee program. Three years ago, the pair came together to create a charity to combat the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, utilizing resources from the industry where they’ve made their professional mark.

Cohen started sewing face masks in the early days of the pandemic, helping to pass the time as productions shut down across the city. She would sew and have CNN on in the background, which she said caused her “to go kind of nuts.”

“I just saw so much negativity in social media … and it made me really frustrated,” Cohen said. “And I just started getting more and more angry … and I wanted to do something.”

She recalled a problem she had noticed when she first started in the entertainment business.

“Sam and I both have worked on film sets for over a decade, and have watched a lot of food get thrown out,” she said. “And from the very first day, on my very first film set, I asked about the food getting thrown out … [and we were] next to a homeless encampment, and I was told we couldn’t pass [the food] out, because we would be sued. And it had to be thrown out. And for a decade, I just kind of accepted that reality … but COVID allowed us to have this stop.”

Cohen and Luu had what they called their “first COVID get together,” where she cracked they were “20 feet apart” and in “hazmat suits.”

“I just started talking to her about every day actions, and this idea of what we could do by saving the food on film sets,” Cohen said.

She also discussed how background artists, production assistants and stand-ins often have inconsistent pay and work hours, making it difficult for them to schedule second jobs. The idea began to form that they could create a nonprofit that would make use of leftover food while simultaneously employing production workers in need of flexible situations.

“We also realized COVID was a good opportunity, too, because … they were going to be preparing food much more safely and more sanitarily than is normal on a film set,” Luu said.

Neither had ever waded into the world of nonprofits, but after months of filling out government paperwork and writing bylaws, which Cohen said involved “a solid month of crying, screaming and working our butts off,” the pair established Every Day Action. The only problem was that, because of the pandemic, nothing was in production.

Cohen was set to give a talk about sewing masks at an online DGA event with roughly 1000 people. She ended up speaking right after headliner Sean Penn. She mentioned masks, but then transitioned directly into talking about Every Day Action.

“Everyone at that event was so excited,” Cohen said. “This producer called me and Sam, and he was like, ‘Hey, I’m going to be the first show shooting [during the pandemic], we’re going to be back in about four weeks … we want to help you do this’. So, Sam and I went to Walmart, we bought a [giant] cooler … and we picked up food for two days [from the shoot]. We saved about 175 meals.”

While Cohen and Luu experienced initial growing pains while learning how to distribute food to the unhoused, they were quickly able to recruit more volunteers, independent contractors and the assistance of an increasing number of film and television productions.

Now, the organization has grown to give out roughly 4,000 meals every week, taking food from five to 15 sets each day, serving areas throughout Los Angeles.

“We will deliver in San Pedro, Hollywood, Burbank and Manhattan Beach all in one day. And we’re really just trying to change the conversation around food waste. Whole Foods has started to really become interested in our efforts and sponsor us, and they have let us start picking up from one of their stores,” Cohen said.

Whole Foods is one of the sponsors of Every Day Action’s first gala, which will be held on March 25 at 6 p.m. at L.A. River Studios, located at 2800 Division St. The theme is a casino night, and will include celebrity players Lucy Hale, Patrick J. Adams, Jack McBrayer and Colton Underwood. Tickets and information can be found by visiting youreverydayaction.org/casinonight.

Luu said that their organization has allowed them to be leaders in a world that often undervalues the voices of women.

“As a female, biracial person of color myself, I feel like it’s important just because there are not enough females like myself that are in charge,” she said. “We  have been in meetings with other men, and so many times where we’re just, overlooked or passed by, or we’re the ones who said the right answer, but no one listened until the man said it. And so [to] be the person in charge, and we get to call the shots, I think that is a different level of representation that the younger generations very much want and need. I think it’s important for women to be in charge in this space, because … iron sharpens iron … when we’re around them.”

“I think that it’s important to show other women that you can just do it,” Cohen said.

For information about Every Day Action, visit youreverydayaction.org.