9 a.m.-12 noon Thurs. March 18, in Porterville
Biggest food giveaway in Tulare County as 1,500 citrus worker families receive aid through UFW & USDA
An estimated 1,500 families left unemployed by the citrus freeze will receive government and privately donated food Thursday morning in one of the largest distributions of its kind since the disaster struck in December and January. Boxes of food staples will be handed to jobless farm workers and packing shed employees in Porterville as part of a relief effort organized by the United Farm Workers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Thursday=s effort is the latest in dozens of food and clothing giveaways sponsored by the UFW since the freeze devastated the citrus crop in large portions of the Central Valley. Surveys of citrus workers conducted by the UFW show more than 28,000 citrus workers have been affected by the disaster in just in northern Tulare and southern Fresno counties. Workers are plagued by widespread continuing shortages of food as well as inability to pay mortgages, rent and utility bills.
This will be the first large USDA food distribution in Tulare County. It is estimated that Tulare County has 65% of the freeze victims. Yet food has frequently been in short supply.
Who: Some 1,500 citrus worker families suffering from lack of food plus representatives from the United Farm Workers and U.S. Department of Agriculture volunteers.
What: UFW-organized disstribution of food staples supplied by the USDA and private donations.
When: 9 a.m. to 12 noon, Thursday, March 18, 1999.
Where: Portersville College Stadium on Main St. and College Ave (1/2 Mile south of Highway 190), in Porterville.
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