The American Red Cross called the United Farm Workers Wednesday afternoon because it had hot meals for victims of the Wine Country wildfires and wanted to know where farm workers lived in Santa Rosa so food could be distributed to them. With help from current and former worker leaders under union contract at Gallo of Sonoma, within two hours the UFW connected with property manager Octavio Ponce at Puerta Villa Apartments where almost all residents are farm workers. As a result of this collaboration, 200 farm workers and their families were provided a free dinner Wednesday. It was all organized in less than two hours over social media and text messages.
The Red Cross reached out once again Wednesday night asking for more locations where it could distribute food to farm workers. The union is working with the farm worker leaders to compile a list and share it with the Red Cross on Thursday.
