We all know the State of California is in a bad situation. Among the wildfires, and budget crisis there is more trouble brewing in the Central Valley. The state has declared all of the San Joaquin Valley a disaster area due to drought. The valley is the agriculture capital of California, and with the drought at a crisis point thousands of farmers, and farm workers are finding themselves out of work. Recently, Fresno County asked our Community Food Bank to provide emergency food relief to families in 5 rural communities that were hit the hardest: Mendota, San Joaquin, Firebaugh, Selma, and Huron. $4 million worth of food was donated to help with this relief.
With all of that food, there is no reason to be turning away hungry families, but THEY ARE. Not from a lack of food, but from a lack of volunteers. If you or your friends live in or near the California Central Valley we desperately need your help.
Unfortunately, the Central Valley is one of the most conservative areas of California. Because of this, enthusiasm to assist in food distribution is extremely low. The attitude in this area is "my tax dollars shouldn't be spent on people too lazy to get a job, especially if they are illegal farmworkers."
Many service groups have been mobilized and are giving the majority of their time to this crisis, but it isn't enough. Distributions are held 3 days a week, and we need at least 120 volunteers PER DAY. So far, we have averaged barely half that, and because of this hundreds of families have been turned away.
If you can help volunteer, know someone who can volunteer, or can help recruit volunteers please contact HandsOn Central California immediately!
To Volunteer Call: (559) 237-3101 or email vols4disaster@handsoncentralcal.org
For more information visit: www.handsoncentralcal.org
I apologize, I know posting a local problem on a national website is not entirely effective, but we need any help we can get.
Update:Wow rec list, thanks! Like I said, we need all the help we can get so that visibility is awesome!I knew I could count on the Kossacks to help spread the word.
Update 2: Many people have been asking which local media outlets have covered the story. As far as I know only KGPE47 (CBS), KSEE24 (NBC), KFSN30 (ABC), KMJ580 (AM radio), and the Fresno Bee have run the story. Press releases were sent out to all local and national media outlets.