Returning a Favor in Time of Disaster

Kathleen Hendrix’s March 31 article “The Gold Is Gone” was an excellent report on how December’s freeze left a devastating wake of human suffering in hardest-hit Tulare County.

Many of the agencies we expect to assist in times of disaster have been slow or not forthcoming at all.

When I called the American Red Cross’ Los Angeles office on March 12 to inquire how they were aiding the Tulare County farm workers, they said that they didn’t define it as a disaster. The fact that President Bush declared it one on Feb. 12 was lost on them. As the magnitude of the crisis has continued to reverberate, private citizens like myself have become alarmed at government social service agencies’ anemic response to the human suffering. We are scrambling with our own stopgap measures.

Joe Sanchez and the Mexican American Grocers Assn. in Los Angeles sent a truckload of staple foods to the Lindsay-Strathmore Coordinating Council on March 28.

Further efforts to collect and distribute food and clothing are being handled by Juan Guttierrez of One Stop Immigration and Educational Center. Al Juarez of World Vision in Monrovia has been involved with Tulare freeze assistance since January. They made $20,000 available for direct assistance. Rich Walden and Operation USA are making available medicines and medical supplies to the rural clinics in the county. The people of Tulare and the rest of the freeze-ravaged counties deserve every bit of help that we Angelenos can give. After all, they feed us most of the time. We must return the favor.

REGINE WOOD

Mar Vista