First of six 18-wheel Vons trucks with food and baby supplies heads from L.A. store to stricken Valley citrus belt

From Burbank to Woodlake, Friday to Monday

First of six 18-wheel Vons trucks with food and baby supplies heads from L.A. store to stricken Valley citrus belt

The first of six 18-wheel Vons trucks delivering badly-needed food and other essentials in the next three months sets off Friday from a Burbank Vons supermarket to the hard-hit citrus belt community of Woodlake in Tulare County. The goods will be distributed Monday to an estimated 600 families of increasingly desperate laid-off citrus workers.

Vons is responding to a request for help from the United Farm Workers with a total of more than $200,000g worth of food, baby supplies and other relief for the families of citrus laborers left unemployed by a disastrous freeze that hit Central Valley orchards in December and January. The UFW estimates the number of jobless citrus workers at more than 28,000 in southern Fresno and northern Tulare Counties alone.

UFW President Arturo Rodriguez and a dozen citrus workers–some with young children–will join Vons President Rick Dreiling, Vons President Emeritus Bill Davila, supermarket employees and actor Ed Begley Jr. in loading the last few pallets of supplies onto the huge truck at Vons’ Burbank store at 11 a.m. on Friday. The goods–separated over the weekend into roughly 600 30-pound family packages–will be distributed at 11 a.m. Monday in Woodlake by Vons employees and citrus worker volunteers organized by the UFW. It is hoped each box will last a family of four for about a week.

Vons has a long tradition of helping our community when they are in need,@ said Vons President Rick Dreiling. AMany farmworkers and their families have been devistated by this citrus freeze and we hope our efforts will help provide much needed relief.@

"Vons’ donations of food and other essentials are badly needed since human suffering is spreading with each new day and the economy in some rural communities is about to collapse from the citrus freeze," notes the UFW’s Rodriguez.

11 a.m., Friday, Feb. 12, 1999 at the Vons supermarket, 301 No. Pass Ave. in Burbank (at Alameda Ave.)–with final loading of an 18-wheel truck by Vons President Rick Dreiling, Vons President Emeritus Bill Davila, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez, laid-off Central Valley citrus workers, Vons employees and actor Ed Begley Jr.

11 a.m., Monday, Feb. 15, 1999 at the Memorial Hall, 354 No. Acacia St. (at Naranjo Ave.) in Woodlake, Tulare County–with distribution of food and supplies by Vons employees and UFW-organized citrus worker volunteers.

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