Port Hueneme feeding essential workers during COVID-19 pandemic
PORT HUENEME, Calif. -- Port Hueneme is working to keep local restaurants and essential workers fed during the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday.
The Port's Lunch for Longshoremen is a program that provides meal vouchers to local restaurants in the area.
To date, the Lunch for Longshoremen program has provided over 180 meals and is still in operation.
The program has expanded their efforts to feed other essential workers in Ventura County.
The Port partnered with a local group of volunteers called Feeding the Frontline, which aims to feed essential workers working on farms and packing facilities throughout Ventura County.
Feeding the Frontline volunteers organize food trucks to provide hot meals to farmworkers during their lunch or break. They also provide boxes and baskets of products, fruits and vegetables for the workers to take him to their families.
The volunteer group follows social distancing rules established by Ventura County officials to provide safe packages and food to their recipients.
The food trucks visit farms countywide including Oxnard, Camarillo and Santa Paula regions.
Del Monte Fresh Produce, a port customer, has joined the efforts by donating 10,000 pounds of pineapples and melons to the program.
The Port also partnered with World Central Kitchen and BG's Cafe to provide 200 lunches for healthcare professionals at St. John's Regional Medical Center.
The Port's Community Outreach Manager gave the following statement:
“Imagine that you don’t have hand sanitizer at home because you can’t find this product anywhere; imagine that you have no childcare because schools are closed; imagine you need food for your family, but pantries providing meals have service hours only before 3 p.m., so you cannot pick up this food because you are harvesting the food for others. These are just some of the challenges that our Ventura County farmworkers are facing every day during the COVID-19 crisis.”
Miguel Rodriguez, Community Outreach Manager for the Port
