Project Angel Food

An AIDS-crisis kitchen that never closed

Project Angel Food began in 1989 as a compassionate response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. It was conceived by a group of volunteers — founded by Marianne Williamson as an outreach program of the Los Angeles Center for Living, which helped people with life-threatening illnesses (Project Angel Food). Volunteers first prepared lunches for drop-in clients, but as fewer and fewer could leave their homes, lunch was delivered to them instead. The first fundraiser, organized by Louise Hay, Marianne Williamson and David Kessler, brought in $11,000 (Project Angel Food).

The program moved into the kitchen of the Crescent Heights United Methodist Church in 1990, and the first “Angel Art” fundraiser that year raised over $540,000 (Project Angel Food). In 1993 the Center for Living formally changed its name to Project Angel Food, a milestone year that also brought Elizabeth Taylor’s AIDS Foundation grant — the organization’s first, at $100,000 — and the donation of its first agency van by Leonard Nimoy (Project Angel Food). A year later, groundbreaking was held in July for a new kitchen, funded by lead gifts from Barry Diller, David Geffen, Barbra Streisand and Ron Burkle; the kitchen was fully operational by November 1994 (Project Angel Food).

The organization kept growing through the epidemic years: the two-millionth meal was served in 1999, with Elizabeth Taylor accepting the Angel Award that year (Project Angel Food). In 2004 the mission formally expanded to include cancer, diabetes, renal failure, COPD and other illnesses (Project Angel Food). In 2006 the organization acquired its permanent home — an 18,000-square-foot, two-story building at 922 Vine Street in Hollywood — and in November 2007 Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa hosted the ribbon-cutting that also marked the five-millionth meal delivered (Project Angel Food; California IBank).

Medically tailored meals as healthcare

The meals are not ordinary charity food: they are medically tailored to each client’s nutritional needs, prepared by dietitians and chefs, and delivered free of charge to people too sick to shop and cook for themselves (California IBank). By 2014 the organization had served over 9 million meals and expected to prepare and deliver more than 525,000 that year — over 10,000 meals every week (California IBank). In 2018 it launched the California Food is Medicine Coalition (CalFIMC) statewide pilot for congestive-heart-failure Medi-Cal patients, an attempt to prove that medically tailored meals reduce healthcare costs (Project Angel Food).

When COVID-19 hit, Project Angel Food scaled from feeding 1,500 people a day to 2,300, preparing and delivering over a million meals in 2020 alone (Project Angel Food). In April 2020, Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, began volunteering and delivering meals themselves; that October the organization served its 13 millionth meal (Project Angel Food). Today the operation prepares and delivers more than 1.5 million medically tailored meals each year to about 7,800 seriously ill clients across Los Angeles County (Splash Magazines).

The Lorre partnership and the 2026 Angel Awards

The organization’s most consequential modern benefactor is Chuck Lorre. CEO Richard Ayoub has said Lorre is responsible for the largest gift in Project Angel Food’s history, and that the partnership with The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation tripled the organization’s annual meal-production capacity, from 1.5 million to more than 4.5 million medically tailored meals (WorldNL). The new $55.5 million Chuck Lorre Family Foundation Kitchen & Campus — where the 2026 gala was held — is the visible result, with a second building soon to break ground (Splash Magazines). Ayoub shared that Lorre didn’t even want his name on the building: “If it weren’t for Chuck and the incredible team at The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation, this brand new kitchen would not be standing today,” Ayoub said. “They do not simply write a check — they become true partners.” (Splash Magazines).

On September 26, 2026, Project Angel Food held its annual Angel Awards gala, and Lorre received the Founders Angel Award — the organization’s highest honor, described by Project Angel Food as “reserved for individuals whose vision, leadership and generosity have had a transformative impact on its mission, shaped its future and created an enduring legacy,” and previously presented only once (WorldNL). The benefit raised more than $1 million (Splash Magazines), and the award was presented by Lorre’s daughter, director Nikki Lorre (MyNewsLA). Entertainment included Barenaked Ladies — who wrote and sang the theme song for Lorre’s The Big Bang Theory — with Loni Love emceeing and Caroline Rhea leading the live auction; presenting sponsors were Warner Bros. Television, Cedars-Sinai Medical Group and Wells Fargo Bank (Splash Magazines).

The evening’s dominant post-gala story was Lorre’s own acceptance speech: The Hollywood Reporter’s Chris Gardner covered it as a politically charged roast of President Trump — drawing coverage that noted jokes aimed at Trump, Melania Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., alongside Lorre’s plea for Democrats to embrace a centrist working-class message (News Area).

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not identify the Founders Angel Award’s first recipient — no full-read source names them. It does not state a final fundraising figure beyond the reported “more than $1 million,” and it does not repeat the verbatim contents of Lorre’s acceptance speech, which are available only through commentary blogs quoting The Hollywood Reporter. Claims about the organization’s current output are attributed to event coverage and the organization’s own reporting rather than an independent audit.