For local restaurant owners, the past year has been a financial struggle.  That’s why SoCalGas is supporting the Latino Restaurant Association (LRA) with a $50,000 donation to help fund the LRA’s “Feeding Frontliners” events and the new Restaurant Recovery Educational Boot Camp.  

On March 11, the LRA delivered its next batch of warm meals provided by three local restaurants, this time feeding more than 550 healthcare workers at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital. Since March 2020, The “Feeding Frontliners” campaign sponsored by SoCalGas and LRA has provided more than 2,700 meals to healthcare workers at 10 medical centers.  The meals were made by nine minority-owned restaurants across Southern California.

“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 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.”

Soon, LRA will launch its free, 6-week Restaurant Recovery Educational Boot Camp to help restaurant owners grow their business.  These virtual sessions will be hosted in both English and Spanish.  The Spring session begins in April and interested restaurant owners should reach out to LRA for more information.