Feed the Community Day marks 25 years of generous Thanksgiving dinners
ILWU volunteers included a delicious pie for Harbor-area families in need of holiday cheer; say volunteering is ‘heartbeat of this union’
The Southern California ILWU’s Feed the Community Day turned 25 this year. This event is sponsored by Locals 13, 63, and 94, So Cal Pensioners, Auxiliary 8, and the ILWU Credit Union. The work to make it happen is done by ILWU volunteers and their families.
For a quarter of a century, the ILWU has donated time and money to help feed families a Thanksgiving meal. This year, more than 100 volunteers provided 1,500 families from the surrounding community with all of the groceries needed to prepare a full turkey dinner for 10 people, with all of the fixings for a traditional family holiday dinner.
“It’s everything they need, from the turkey to the salad,” said Holiday Event Committee Secretary-Treasurer Katy Witowski. “This year, because it’s our 25th year, they’re getting a pie as well. We wanted to do something a little bit special for them.”
Community partnerships
Witowski said that she has been working on this year’s event since August. She personally screens everyone who applies for the Thanksgiving meal for need. The Committee works with area schools and organizations to outreach for applicants.
“We go through a lot of the elementary schools here in Wilmington and San Pedro Harbor City, and we work with Catholic Charities.” She said. “We also do some shelters and senior centers. It’s a lot of work.”
Most of the recipients are required to come and pick up their meals at the Longshoremen’s Memorial Hall in Wilmington, but a portion of the meals are delivered, Witowski said. “We recently brought on an organization called Helping Hands that does a lot of work with veterans, and they will drive a Thanksgiving meal all the way up to Riverside,” which is several hours away.
Rising costs
Committee president Jose “Junior” Alvarez said rising costs impacted event planning. “This year was a tough year, everything went up in price, but we made it happen,” he said. He also thanked Albertsons for coming through with 1,500 pies at the last minute when the original vendor fell through.
Giving in tough times
Local 13 President Ramon Ponce De Leon added, “The industry has diverted all its cargo away from the West Coast during our contract talks. We’ve had fewer jobs, steadies are getting laid off, and there are people in the hall who can’t get work. Even though they are struggling, they still have the heart to give back to the community. We are going to continue with this tradition in good times and in bad.”
Team effort
Volunteers began early on the morning of November 22 to get everything set up for distribution. A refrigerated container filled with 1,500 turkeys was set up outside the hall, ready to be unloaded. Tables and tents were also set up, and the food was organized to make it easy for volunteers to assemble bags of groceries so they would be ready to hand out to the community starting at 11 a.m. Reusable canvas grocery bags were donated by the ILWU Credit Union. Volunteer shifts of around 50 people were staggered throughout the day.
Witowski said she was motivated to join the committee because she understands first-hand that families struggle to make ends meet and sometimes need a helping hand.
“It’s my 15th year in the program,” said Witkowski, “and I do it because I grew up dirt poor. I lived in a tent for six months because we didn’t have a house. Now I have a fantastic job, and the least I can do is give back to the community.
The effort utilized skills from a range of ILWU workers, from forklift drivers moving pallets of food, to Local 26 Watchmen who took the day off work to volunteer to ensure the day was smoothly. Local 26 member Vincent Slater, a 28-year Watchman, said he has been volunteering at the event since 2003. “I am from Wilmington, and this is just a way for me to give back to the community,” he said.
Origins of a tradition
In an interview with the Dispatcher at last year’s event, Local 94 member Mike Ponce explained the history of the Feed the Community Day that he helped to found when he was a Local 13 ID.
“In 1998, we were coming up on a contract year. There were about four or five of us—all IDs—and we were talking about how we wanted to do something for our community. We started having meetings and started what we called the ‘ILWU, Yes We Can Committee,’” Ponce said. “We started with the goal of 50 turkeys. We got a reefer donated by a company, and then the 50 turkeys grew to 500. Jerry Avila and I went to local grocery stores and asked if they would donate some food. The 500 turkeys grew into 500 baskets in the first year.” Ponce said that the committee has been a success because Local 13 members have continued to step up to volunteer for the committee.
Cris Sogliuzzo and Mike Vera from the SoCal Region of the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific (IBU), the Marine Division of the ILWU, showed up to lend a hand. “This is my first time volunteering at this event,” Vera said. “I just want to do my part as a union activist to support this community.”
Connecting generations
Marie Martinez has been volunteering at the annual Feed the Community Day for the past fifteen years, starting at the age of eight. Her father, Sergio Martinez, now a member of Local 94, would bring her every year. Marie is currently going through the casual process to become a longshore worker. She looks forward to the event every year.
“I just enjoy helping out the community, and my dad always makes it fun,” said Martinez. “I always have my little red wagon. That’s how I take all the baskets and all the bags to people’s cars if they need assistance.”
Local 13 member Jacob Connelly said that volunteering and being involved with the community is an important part of being an ILWU member for him. “I’ve been down here doing this for the last 20 years. I’m just giving back,” Connelly said. “Volunteering is really what keeps this local going, that’s the heartbeat of this union”
