LOS ANGELES  –  The Little Tokyo community has developed a system to buy from their own businesses and help laid off workers.

Cafe Dulce owner James Choi is one of the organizers for Community Feeding Community. The program buys meals from restaurants in Little Tokyo and the nearby Arts District, then distributes them for free.

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“It feels good that we can do it, but at the same time it’s such a crisis mode that it doesn’t even feel like, 'Oh my gosh we’re doing this great thing.' It just feels like we need to do this to get through this,” said Choi.

This whole thing started with a $1,000 donation. Now they’re up to about $20,000.

Japanese immigrants started settling in what is now Little Tokyo in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The community has already survived wars, disease, and discrimination.

“The Japanese-American community during WWII they dealt with incarceration and they got everything taken away from them and really what they realized and understood is they need to band together,” said Choi.

They’re not just feeding people. They’re ensuring their community is strong enough to survive this pandemic.