LOS ANGELES -- Inside a small warehouse, tucked behind a shuttered pawn shop in the heart of Hollywood, Crystal Lipps took the handle of a large black rolling cart loaded with donated boxes of carrots, bananas and other fresh food that once would have been destined for a landfill.
The 25-year-old guided the cart into a refrigerated room, where the food would be stored until one of 40 local nonprofits swung by her Hollywood Food Coalition site to “shop” for ingredients to help feed hungry people throughout Los Angeles.
Lipps is part of the second cohort of 112 annual fellows in the California Climate Action Corps, which is the first such state-level initiative in the nation. The program uses a combination of state, federal and private funds to pay $30,000 in stipends and $10,000 toward college tuition or student loan debt to state residents who help lead climate-focused efforts in communities throughout the state. Lipps is about halfway through her 11-month stint, which she described as a “gap year” of sorts, after graduating from UC San Diego. She’s said the work is helping her bank experience, network and narrow down what she wants to do with the rest of her life.
