SoCalGas Employees Lead Drive to Donate Food and Hygiene Items for Farmworkers in Ventura County

OXNARD, Calif., Aug. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today partnered with Clinicas del Camino Real (Clinicas) and Meruelo Enterprises to deliver hundreds of hygiene items and dry goods to farmworkers and their families who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The contactless donation event was organized through Feeding the Frontline: Feeding Our Farmworkers. SoCalGas also donated $5,000 to the organization. Photos and videos from today's drive are available here. 

"SoCalGas recognizes the importance of supporting farmworkers during these challenging times with not only affordable energy but also with basic necessities like hygiene items and food," said Maria Ventura, public affairs manager at SoCalGas. "We are proud to partner with Clinicas and Meruelo Enterprises, and to see our employees stepping up to help others in the communities we serve."

"As one of the founding members of Feeding the Frontline, I am proud to partner with SoCalGas and Meruelo Enterprises in continuing our efforts," said Roberto S. Juarez, Chief Executive Officer at Clinicas del Camino Real, Inc. "We are thankful for partners like SoCalGas and Meruelo Enterprises who support important initiatives within our communities."

"Farmworkers have been unsung heroes during this pandemic. As a minority-owned enterprise, we feel a deep responsibility to give back and help the minority communities and workers that keep our economy going. Our diverse employees have embraced the 'Feeding Our Farmworkers' initiative, and because of our partnership with SoCalGas, we're able to make a significant impact for these workers," said Elizabeth Martinez, Director, Government Relations at Meruelo Enterprises.     

For today's drive, SoCalGas and Meruelo employees purchased items from Feeding The Frontline's Amazon wish list or dropped off donated items at Clinicas' headquarters in Camarillo. Employees donated hygiene items such as hand sanitizers, paper towels, diapers, soap, shampoo, face coverings, and gas cards as well as dry goods such as white rice, corn tortillas, beans and more.

Feeding Our Farmworkers is made up of business owners and community leaders from Ventura County who've joined together to provide food, support and recognition to the thousands of farmworkers providing essential duties in Ventura County during COVID-19. The group's mission is to feed frontline workers by mobilizing local resources and planning regular food distributions specifically for farmworkers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since April, Feeding Our Farmworkers has held 27 food distribution events with over 21,000 farmworkers' families served. Over 300 tons of food have been donated and distributed by community partners like SoCalGas and Meruelo Enterprises.

In addition to the $5,000 donation to Clinicas, SoCalGas has given more than $2.74 million to nonprofit organizations for COVID-19 recovery efforts since March to support the region's workforce, feed the hungry, provide bill assistance to customers, and more.

Together, the Sempra Energy family of companies–including SoCalGas's sister California utility San Diego Gas and Electric, and the Sempra Energy Foundation–have donated more than $12.5 million to those in need during this crisis.

For more information on SoCalGas's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit www.socalgas.com/coronavirus.

About Feeding the Frontline

Feeding the Frontline: Feeding Our Farmworkers is a group of business owners, non-profits, and community leaders from Ventura County, including Clinicas, Ruby's Restaurant, The Port of Hueneme, Del Monte, The Local Love Project and Gloria's Restaurant & Bar, that have joined forces to provide food, support and recognition to the thousands of farmworkers providing essential duties during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ventura County.                                                         

Feeding the Frontline seeks "to feed those who feed us" by visiting farms and community locations to provide free lunch or dinner to farmworkers, as well as providing essential products and healthy boxed food to those who have not stopped their duties while the rest of Ventura County residents have to stay at home.

About Clinicas del Camino Real (Clinicas)

Clinicas is a non-profit organization operating 15 clinic sites and 3 mobile units across Ventura County.  The mission of Clinicas is to provide quality, comprehensive, and preventive health care services to the County's community at rates that are consistent with ability to pay.  Clinicas has historically served underserved populations although all patients are accepted.  

About Meruelo Enterprises

Meruelo Enterprises, Inc. (MEI) is a leader in integrated construction solutions. MEI is one of the leading Latino-owned, MBE certified utility + commercial construction contractor in California. We provide planning, construction, engineering, design and management services for large scale public and private projects serving the gas, electric, water utilities, transit construction services and high-tech installations.

For more than 75 years, customers have trusted MEI with both small and large-scale projects due to our commitment to safety, quality, and experience in the construction industry. We bring added value to each project as we continue to grow our portfolio of companies. Our companies include Herman Weissker Inc, Doty Brothers Construction Co., Tidwell Excavating, Neal Electric Company and Select Electric Inc. For more information visit our website https://merueloenterprises.com/ or connect with MEI on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MerueloEnterprisesInc.

About SoCalGas

Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable gas service to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes or other uses. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians— about 45 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants.

SoCalGas' vision is to be the cleanest gas utility in North America, delivering affordable and increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In support of that vision, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. By developing renewable gas from our state's abundant organic waste streams, we can help to meet our climate goals sooner, while diversifying our carbon-free energy sources, improving energy resilience and reliability, while also creating additional renewable fuel and jobs for our communities. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2014 through 2018, the company invested nearly $6.5 billion to upgrade and modernize its pipeline system to enhance safety and reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.  

SOURCE Southern California Gas Company

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