On this day, M.T.O. Shahmaghsoudi Los Angeles marked the end of Ramadan by hosting an event “Celebrating Our Heroes”. The event was a successful display and distribution of thousands of prepared food packages.We were honored with the attendance of Tanaz Golshan Senior Representative to Mayor Eric Garcetti, Jack Kayajian, Civilian Advisor to LA County Sheriff, LA Fire Department, LAPD, Santa Monica Police, representatives of Councilmember Gil Cedillo’s office, and Captain Ochoa of the U.S. Army. The media attended the event, with several major stations including Channel 2 KCBS, Channel 4 KNBC, and Telemundo. Mashhoud Salehian spoke at the podium and introduced the guests. US Army Captain Ochoa, Tanaz Golshan, and Steven Schultze of LA Mission gave a few words before Mahnaz Zarabi introduced Tamarkoz and quoted in five different languages, including Farsi, Spanish, French and Hebrew. There was a photo opportunity before we offered lunch to the uniformed personnel. We all worked together to load the food into the vehicles and helped in making the deliveries throughout the city.
The food donations were provided in reusable bags with canned goods, fresh bread, pastas, rice and sauces. Also, since many of these are going to the homeless and in-need Veterans, they each include facemasks, socks and beanies. The food was largely displayed in the red, white and blue colors. A total of 1450 bags of food, plus 4 pallets of bulk food were donated. In addition to all of this, another 450 full bags of food will be delivered the following day to three different low-income senior living homes door to door.