Giving is a tradition: ILWU’s 24th Annual Feed the Community Day

The Southern California ILWU’s 24th Annual Feed the Community Day, sponsored by Locals 13, 63, and 94, So Cal Pensioners, Auxiliary 8, and the ILWU Credit Union, provided 1,500 families from the surrounding community with Thanksgiving meals during the ongoing pandemic. The ILWU continued its tradition of giving back to the community by providing turkeys and all of the fixings for a traditional family holiday dinner to families in need.

Work began early on the morning of November 23 at the Longshoremen’s Memorial Hall in Wilmington.

A reefer (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.

Volunteer shifts of around 50 people were staggered throughout the day and COVID safety precautions were observed to minimize risk. Several hundred volunteers helped over the course of the day, according to Jose Alvarez, Holiday Committee President. Also serving as officers on the Holiday Committee are Steve Roldan (Committee Vice President) and Katy Witowski (Committee Secretary Treasurer). Planning for the event started in September.

“We pre-bag all groceries, fresh veggies, and the potatoes in one bag,” Alvarez said. “The last hour before the community comes through, we’ll start bagging the turkey stuffing, juice, canned goods—sauce, corn, green beans—beans, and rice. When they leave everyone will have two bags—one for each hand and they have Thanksgiving dinner for their family.”

Alvarez said that he has volunteered with the Holiday Committee for over 20 years. “I was a casual when I started volunteering,” Alvarez said. “It was nice to give back to the union and I stayed with it. My sister came in as a casual and volunteered for two years. God rest her soul; she passed away in an accident. I said, no matter what, I’ll keep doing it on her behalf and not stop. Until the day they say there’s no money or no turkeys. That’s when we stop. Until then, we’ll keep going.”

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. She said that she started volunteering on the committee in 2005 when she was a casual and became an officer on the committee in 2008.

“I grew up dirt poor,” Witowski said. “My dad always had a job and he always had to work really hard.

I’m so blessed to have such a fantastic job that it’s the least I can do is to give back to my community.”

Roldan said that he is a 20-year committee volunteer. “I’ve done a lot of volunteering all over the community. When I heard about this committee, I thought, ‘Why not do volunteer for my union?’ I’ve been volunteering with the committee ever since,” Roldan said. “My father and my uncles worked down here on the docks. They all knew Harry Bridges. They always gave back to people on their own and help their families, especially during the Depression when things were really bad. I was raised that way. When you have enough, help somebody else out.”

Watchmen from Local 26 took the day off of work to volunteer to ensure the day was smooth and orderly. Antonio P. Jones—also known on the docks as “Sergeant Jonsie”—has been volunteering his time for the Feed the Community Day for the past eight years.

“I do it just to give back to the community,” Jones said. “It’s especially important now with what’s going on now with the COVID. Some people are running into hard times not working, so it’s the best thing to do.”

Another Local 26 member, Gabriel Gonzalez, has also been volunteering for the past 8 years. He brings his family, including his children who help on the line while he provides security.

“I took the day off to come and help. It’s always a pleasure to see those faces,” he said.

Cris Sogliuzzo from the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific, the Marine Division of the ILWU, also volunteered at the event. “It’s helping other people so you can never, ever go wrong with that,” he said.

Local 94 member Mike Ponce help found the Feed in the Community Day 24 years ago when he was a Local 13 ID.

“In 1998, we were coming up on a contract year. There was about four or five 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 from 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 beem a success because Local 13 members have continued to step up to volunteer for the committee.

“I chaired the Committee for the first seven years and then I moved on to clerking and now I am a foreman. I stayed on the committee for a while and handed the reins over to Lisa Thompson. She did amazing things with it and kept it going. Now we have this new committee that joined after I left. I hope that we just go on like that indefinitely. We make sure the community understands that we’re here to help and we want to thank them for always supporting us.”