Volunteers Gear Up For Cesar E. Chavez Community Service Week
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Angelenos are volunteering their time to remember a labor hero during the 11th annual Cesar E. Chavez Community Service Week.
Chavez was a migrant farmworker who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association in the early 1960s.
"Cesar Chavez is an American hero, not only for his accomplishments as a labor organizer but as a civil rights leader and a non-violent protestor," Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina said in a statement. "Cesar Chavez exemplified what it means to be an American through his lifelong commitment to democracy, justice, and dignity for working people."
The county has commemorated Chavez's legacy for the past 10 years with a week of service, which begins Monday and ends on Chavez's birthday, Saturday, March 31.
Volunteer opportunities abound, from helping out at Department of Animal Care & Control locations, to cleaning up the beach, to planting flowers and painting at county parks. For information on where you can volunteer, go to the LA County website for the Cesar E. Chavez Week Community Service volunteer application form and opportunities (pdf).
L.A. Works is also remembering Chavez with a "Fruitanthropy Celebration." Volunteers will pick excess fruit from a local property and collect it so it can be donated to a local charity.
The United Farm Works Foundation will also open their doors Thursday between 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for its first Open House at El Gallo Plaza, 4545 E. Cesar E. Chavez Ave.
Los Angeles city libraries are closed Monday, but county libraries will remain open throughout the week. Los Angeles Unified District schools will be closed Friday to observe Chavez's birthday, along with Los Angeles Superior courthouses.
The Department of Motor Vehicles, federal offices and services, including the U.S. Postal Service, will remain open. Banks, Metro bus, subway, train and trash collection will operate on their regular schedules.
