Herbalife Partners with Union Rescue Mission to become a dragonslayer

Don Garza - Downtown Los Angeles

CEO  Michael O Johnson of Herbalife and Andy Bales CEO of Union Rescue Mission

Skid Row can be compared to a huge dragon that has many faces. These faces can manifest themselves in many ways. One of these ways is no easy access to healthy foods. Each Corner market is filled with nothing but processed sugary foods, well intentioned people bring doughnuts , cookies , and all types of sugary items to feed the people on the streets. In a community that is filled with sick and ail residents, this can add to the quick demise of those residents through the proliferation of malnourishment , which can translate into Diabetes and exacerbation of symptoms of other physical illnesses.

Today, the Union Rescue Mission announced a partnership with Herbalife to bring healthy Formula 1 shakes every breakfast, for a year. The question from one of the reporters was how much in cost to Herbalife is the product? The only answer that this writer can state with certainty to answer that question  is that, although the answer translates into 10,000s of dollars , you can not put a price on people's health. The Missions in skid row do their best to provide healthy meals , yet they can only provide meals that are donated from their donors , for the most part. Today was the death of having to do without augmenting the nutritional value of the meals that are already served. This actually translates into saving lives. It also will add to the arrest of people falling into more poverty as a result of illnesses that can be prevented or the worsening of conditions that skid row community residents already have. Translated this  gives these folks a chance to recover from whatever their disease may be , even those such as substance abuse. Good nutrition is a part of any form of recovery.

From a personal perspective of having had type 2 diabetes and not having ease of access to healthy food in skid row it can certainly be said that this partnership will save lives. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand this. Nor to realize that this is not conjecture, but for a population that relies on the Union Rescue Mission for sustenance , this is fact. Illness can cause a spiraling effect and a redundancy in the ability for people to pull themselves out of the skid row situation. If people are eating right, they are thinking right. I said it to many people at the press conference today that I am jealous that the people in skid row have access to a high protein shake filled with nutritional value, something that was not available before. I also said that no one has come to my house and offered me free protein shakes filled with calcium,, protein , Vitamin A , and Vitamin C. Today this was offered by Herbalife as a commitment to those who eat breakfast at URM ;the choice of a shake is now available.

Some may say that all of the above statements are an exaggeration , but I can't see where there is an exaggeration. Today , Herbalife became a dragonslayer. That hideous dragon we call malnourishment and lack of access to healthy foods  in skid row had a stake thrust through it's heart. Once again, the dragon we call skid row is slowly counting it 's days away when it could just destroy people physically. And I hope that many partnerships such as the one we see with URM and Herbalife continue to happen. I also hope that those who choose to go to skid row to help , realize, that if you are going to feed people , you must do it right. If anything comes from witnessing this  partnership  , I hope that is what many come away with.