New John Lennon 'Imagine No Hunger' license…
New John Lennon 'Imagine No Hunger' license plates will support California food banks
The California Department of Social Services is championing a run of specialty "Imagine No Hunger" California license plates that includes the famous John Lennon self-portrait doodle image which was authorized by his widow, Yoko Ono Lennon. Proceeds from the plates will be donated to the California Association of Food Banks.
By Kelli Skye Fadroski | kfadroski@scng.com | Orange County Register
Yoko Ono Lennon, Southern California-based Beatles tribute band the Fab Four and the California Department of Motor Vehicles have joined forces to combat hunger in the state with the sale of specialty license plates featuring the iconic self-portrait image of the late John Lennon.
The Emmy Award-winning Fab Four unveiled the design for the new plate at its show at City National Grove of Anaheim on Saturday, April 7, and asked fans to pre-order the design, which will be put into production after 7,500 pre-paid applications are received by the DMV. Proceeds from the plates, which cost anywhere from $50-$103 depending on customization at CaliforniaImagine.com, will go directly to the California Association of Food Banks to help supply food an estimated 2 million Californians in need.
"This is something we've been trying to work on for quite some time," The Fab Four's Ron McNeil, who portrays Lennon in the shows, said during a recent phone interview. "We've been spreading John Lennon's message of peace and love every night and I think it's a special thing for us to actually be able to do something. I mean, we bring smiles to people's faces at shows, but in this age of needing to be active and actually doing something to make a difference, this is a great way to do that."
The Fab Four unveiled the design for the John Lennon "Imagine No Hunger" special interest California license plates during its show at City National Grove of Anaheim on Saturday, April 7. (Photo courtesy of The Fab Four)
According to food bank association, nearly one in eight households face food insecurity with an occasional or constant lack of access to food that people need to live a healthy and active life. The organization estimates that if 10 million California drivers purchased the specialty plates, hunger would be eliminated throughout the entire state.
Community Action Partnership/Orange County Food Bank President and CEO Gregory Scott said that in Orange County alone the food bank provides about 20 million pounds of food every year to families in need and around 24,000 boxes of food every month for senior citizens. The license plates, he said, will serve as a major fundraiser for food banks throughout California.
"It's going to be a major deal in our fight against poverty and hunger," he said.
Scott, who had previously worked with organizations near Skid Row in Los Angeles, said that Southern California has the highest concentration of homelessness in the country and that fact is often overlooked considering there's also great wealth in communities within Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange counties.
"Where there's great wealth you'll also have great poverty in those areas," he shared. "In Orange County we have a lot of pockets of homelessness and poverty and you also have the working poor. You have people who have jobs and sometimes have two jobs but are barley able to make ends meet and they have to make a decision of paying the light bill or getting some food."
With Ono personally authorizing the use of Lennon's image for the plates along with the slogan "Imagine No Hunger," it all falls very much in line with the message Lennon was consistently sharing with his music and art.
"Imagine is a great word to spread around and I'm happy to do this because it's helping a very important charity," Ono said via a press release.
"It's just continuing to spread that message and keep John's legacy something that will carry on forever," McNeil added. "John was always talking about peace and a world where we'd put aside our differences and unite together and that's what we're doing with this, which I think is kind of amazing. People will see those license plates on cars and it will be a reminder that hunger is actually a problem here so hopefully all the Beatles fans out there will go buy one."
Following the show in Anaheim, The Fab Four will also perform a string of shows at the Rose in Pasadena on Thursday, April 26; Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills on Friday, April 27; and The Canyon Club Theatre in Agoura Hills on Sunday, April 29. At each of the gigs the band will continue to encourage fans to pre-order the license plates.
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Kelli Skye Fadroski lives for entertainment. She's worked at The Orange County Register since 2006 and has covered all things music, stand-up comedy, horror and more. When she's not out reviewing a concert or interviewing some random famous person, she's catching up on episodes of 'The Walking Dead,' somewhere sampling craft beer, enjoying Taco Tuesday or yelling at the contestants through the TV on 'Celebrity Name Game' for not knowing basic pop culture trivia. She's also a diehard Detroit Lions fan.
Follow Kelli Skye Fadroski	@kelliskye