|
The
Desert Sun
March 23,
2007
A
San Francisco-based foundation whose goals include helping
low-income Californians, announced yesterday that it had contributed
$250,000 to provide assistance to farmworkers and their families
financially impacted by the state's January crop freeze.
The
James Irvine Foundation said it had distributed the money
to four community-based organizations, including the Palm
Desert-based Desert Community Foundation, that will offer
direct aid -- particularly help with rent, mortgage payments,
utility bills and groceries -- to farmworkers who had been
left jobless by the winter freeze.
"More
than two months after the freeze, we are seeing needs increase,
not decrease, in our community,'' Mary Panesar, the Desert
Community Foundation's executive director, said in a statement.
"These grants to the Desert Community Foundation will
provide immediate relief in response to this human crisis
by providing much-needed assistance to local farm workers
and their families.''
The
cold snap caused an estimated $1.3 billion in crop losses
in 12 California counties, including Riverside County.
Citrus
growers have reduced their amount workers following the freeze.
|
