LOS ANGELES, March 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced it has donated $50,000 to the Latino Restaurant Association (LRA) to support two Feeding Frontliners campaign events and the nonprofit's new Restaurant Recovery Educational Boot Camp, which will provide free business education to approximately 100 minority restaurant business owners. The first Feeding Frontliners campaign event funded under the utility's donation was held today at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital. More than 550 healthcare workers received warm meals from three local restaurants. For photos of the event, please click here.
"We are proud to show our continued appreciation to our community heroes while supporting local restaurants through our partnership with LRA," said Andy Carrasco, vice president of communications, local government, and community affairs at SoCalGas. "We are also proud to sponsor LRA's Educational Bootcamp program to help restaurant owners weather this storm. The past year has been challenging for so many and we want to thank those who play an important role in serving our communities."
"We launched our Feeding Frontliners campaign as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support minority-owned restaurants and bring a little joy to frontline workers," said Lilly Rocha, co-founder of the Latino Restaurant Association. "Through the generosity of community partners like SoCalGas, we have been able to expand our support to minority business owners."
"We express our gratitude to the Latino Restaurant Association and SoCalGas for bringing some comfort and cheer to our frontliners. We also appreciate their support of local restaurants in the community. We are stronger together," said Dyan Sublett, MLK Community Health Foundation president.
Since March of 2020, SoCalGas and LRA have provided more than 2,700 meals to healthcare workers in 10 medical centers and have supported nine minority-owned restaurants across Southern California through the Feeding Frontliners campaign.
This week, LRA began accepting applications for its free Restaurant Recovery Educational Boot Camp. The six-week virtual program will provide restaurant owners with tools and resources to grow their business. Sessions will be hosted in English and Spanish. To learn more or to apply to the Restaurant Recovery Educational Boot Camp click here.
SoCalGas is dedicated to supporting the health, safety, and wellness of our community. In addition to supporting the LRA's Feeding Frontliners campaign and Restaurant Recovery Educational Boot Camp, the utility has donated more than $3.5 million to nonprofit organizations for COVID-19 recovery efforts, which include providing educational resources to students, supporting the region's workforce, feeding the hungry, providing bill assistance to customers, and more.
For more information about SoCalGas' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit www.socalgas.com/coronavirus.
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. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. 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.
About the Latino Restaurant Association
The Latino Restaurant Association promotes, supports and educates restaurateurs and small business owners to ensure the equitable economic growth of the Latino restaurant sector. As a member association we work to bring our member community together to advocate for the critical issues impacting our industry and provide resources and educational opportunities to support efficient business practices. The LRA strives to create an all-inclusive Latino restaurant platform for the country.
About Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital
MLKCH is an award-winning, all-digital community hospital in one of the most medically-underserved areas in the nation. Opened in 2015, its mission is to provide high-quality and compassionate care to improve the health of South Los Angeles. www.mlkch.org
SOURCE Southern California Gas Co.
