Last weekend, a trio of restaurateurs and a small army of volunteers took over the Boyle Heights patio of X'tiosu, packing bags full of corn, pumpkin, celery, potatoes, jalapeños, oranges, radishes and sopite ingredients as dry paste boxes.
The Oaxacán-Mediterranean restaurant staff solved salad trays, Falafel, Burritos, Tabouleh and Oaxacan Hummus, in one of the many community efforts in Los Angeles to feed and deliver edible to immigrants and other residents who take refuge in the home as immigration and personalized footprints (ICE) cross the south of California.
The owners of X'tiosu assumed that they would deliver food until closing hours. But in less than three hours, the 150 grocery bags were gone.
“We understand the feelings that are happening in our community at this time, even if we are legal,” said Xochitl Flores-Marcial, a partner in the restaurant. “Even if we have documents, that does not exempt us from the danger that so many people face at this time and in our culture.”
Flores-Marcial helps to operate the restaurant with its chefs funds, Felipe and Ignacio Santiago, the last of which is also her husband. The trio had noticed that the street vendors who generally pass with their restaurant, and particularly the elderly sellers, disappeared over the last two weeks. The eloter, the woman who sold churros, the paleteros and the fruit trees, ancient accessories in her corner of Boyle Heights, did not see each other anywhere.
Restorers could understand why: taqueros and all kinds of street vendors in Los Angeles They are currently hidden.
How could these suppliers feed if they could not sell their products? The X'tiosu team wanted to help, but with their own restaurant fighting, I could not donate all its food and supplies. They turned to the community to help.
X'tiosu Copropietarios y Brothers Ignacio Santiago, on the left, and Felipe Santiago outside his restaurant in 2020.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
The three restaurateurs are Oaxacan and Zapotecan, and their ancestry has reported how they respond to crises, said Flores-Marcial. In times of conflict, they tend to join as a community, resorting to the concept of Guelaguetza or reciprocal help.
On June 11, the trio published a call to action on page X'tiosu Instagram, asking for donations to provide free meals for those in need. Some donated only $ 2, while a customer donated $ 500. They raised just over $ 3,000, all of which paid products and supplies.
“We want to know that people are not only eating, but eating foods that are comforting and that they are giving us a feeling of peace, whether a soup of noodles or zucchini, or something we would do on any given day, but that currently has an additional meaning,” said Flores Marcial.
The volunteers, mainly young from Oaxacan from the neighborhood, helped deliver the food bags calling to doors or delivered to specific directions. Some needy sent their children to collect bags, some came to pick them up by bicycle. A small team of about 10 people pocketed the groceries, while others distributed.
A couple who came to the restaurant for lunch saw the effort that was developed around them, then also volunteered to help. They stayed to pocket at the end of the event.
Fund collection also allowed X'tiosu to support local farms and other products suppliers, whose businesses have also seen pronounced recessions and decreased customers.
“We understand that this moment is hurting us all,” he said, adding that his restaurant barely survives due to slow businesses. “I don't know how much more we can do that … but other people face even more difficulty than us, because they are more exposed.”
The groceries that are prepared for delivery and collection in X'tiosu on June 14.
(Luis Quintanilla)
The Restorators of X'tiosu had never headed a community action on this scale, but said they could organize one again in the future. Meanwhile, they are contributing to the distribution efforts of food organized by other companies.
Other base efforts are sprouting through Los Angeles, such as the here for the community based in the County of the and Orange. The new initiative is to request donations for groceries, then coordinate discreet purchases and donations for those who stay at home to avoid ice.
The select chains of the grocery store are try to make purchases less dangerous for immigrants When giving up delivery rates on the sidewalk, as is the case with Northgate Markets, or offering discount or void rates in all delivery applications, as Vallarta Supermarkets is doing.
Long Data Help organizations are also feeding the community. World Harvest Food Bank, a non -profit organization based in Arlington Heights, regularly feeds Angels in need and offers mental health and behavior services.
Through its Cart with to Heart program, each $ 50 donation fills a shopping cart with fresh meat, pantry items and products. While World Harvest is not directly coordinating the pills and deliveries to immigrants who remain at home, the non -profit organization “is calling all the defenders, neighbors and members of the community, if you know someone who cannot leave home, come to collect a cart.”
The YMCA Los Angeles chapter is delivering prepared meals, edible articles and other needs such as an extension of its food program; The organization regularly delivers food and other needs to the elderly and other residents during heat waves and beyond.
“If you are avoiding public spaces, let's go to you,” reads a public announcement of YMCA la.
“As a center for the welfare of the community, we will be here to do everything possible to ensure that our Los Angeles region feels safe and supported now and always,” said another publication.
The YMCA locations throughout the region are assembling meals and supply packages, even in Koreatown, Van Nuys, Boyle Heights and Pacoima.
YMCA representatives declined to comment on their delivery initiative.
In Los Angeles, restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops and food organizations are joining to raise funds for immigrants through food sale. TO collaborative dessert box With sweets of some of the most famous bakeries in the city, including Modu Cafe, just what I kneaded, flouring and delights, he sold out in a few hours of his announcement on Thursday. The income of each $ 40 box will be donated to the coalition for the rights of human immigrants.
On Sunday, a swarm of the chefs and restaurants will take over the section of the Paseo Marítimo de Venice Beach that sells Pizza, his and kebabs to benefit the coalition of the rights of human immigrants and meet for good.
“Everyone is so uncomfortable at this time, and there is nothing better in Los Angeles than when we can provide comfort to people,” said the community organizer and activist David Turkell. “Either a homemade meal or simply a bit of macaroni with cheese, or pizza or something else that really gathers people.”
When multiple forest fires crossed Los Angeles in January, Turkell helped form Fund collection Pizza Alliance. Now, he is co -organizing Sunday's event.
Chefs and restaurants have communicated with Turkell to participate in fundraising. The former political organizer said that multiple undocumented chefs have also contacted him, uncertain of his own future.
“Many companies are not happening at this time because they are afraid to be outside,” Turkell said. “So I think we want to continue with the sensation of radical hospitality that existed during the pandemic and during the fires, and keep that in operation.
“People are afraid, and we want to make sure that people feel comfortable in our community regardless of who they are, regardless of where they are, because this is what this city is about.”
