Project Angel Food, a nonprofit that prepares and delivers more than 1.5 million free medically-tailored meals each year to L.A. County residents affected by life-threatening illnesses, held the 2024 Angel Awards Gala on Saturday, September 28. During the celebration, which marked the organization’s 35th anniversary, Project Angel Food honored John Baackes, the CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan, with its second annual Sheryl Lee Ralph Legacy Award. The award is given to people who have shown an unwavering and longstanding commitment to Project Angel Food.
Baackes, who believes health care is more than just a plastic card in your wallet, has long been an advocate for addressing the social needs that impact health. He has been a strong champion of medically-tailored meals as a perfect example of how addressing a barrier, like food insecurity, can lead to positive health outcomes. As a result, under Baackes’ leadership, L.A. Care and Project Angel Food partnered on a pilot project by the Food is Medicine Coalition and, during the pandemic, the health plan committed funding to help Project Angel Food reduce its waiting list for meals and nutritional counseling, which had grown due to COVID-19.
L.A. Care was quick to adopt medically-tailored meals as a Community Support under the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative. When The Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School conducted a case study on L.A. Care’s partnership with Project Angel Food under CalAIM, researchers found that emergency room visits and inpatient hospital stays dropped among those members receiving medically-tailored meals.
Baackes also served on the Project Angel Food Board of Directors for six years, helping it secure funding from the wider Los Angeles County community.
During the Gala, Project Angel Food also bestowed the Humanitarian Angel Award on actor, dancer, and philanthropist Debbie Allen. Actor Matt Bomer received the 2024 Angel Award. The CEO of Project Angel Food, Richard Ayoub, says all of the Angel Awards are a testament to the incredible individuals who inspire the team and propel the organization’s mission forward. He called the Gala an evening of gratitude and unity.