LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Port of Los Angeles officials announced today they have donated more than 2,000 turkeys to people in need, and they will deliver 300 prepared meals to three Harbor area homeless shelters on Thursday.
The port and its police department partnered with CMA CGM Group, a global shipping and logistics company, which donated the Thanksgiving turkeys to Los Angeles families over the weekend.
“Families across the Los Angeles region, including our local Harbor community, have endured many unforeseen challenges in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic,'' Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said. “We hope these donations made possible by CMA CGM will bring a bit of joy and comfort to our community as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches.''
Seroka also serves as the Los Angeles chief logistics officer and leads Logistics Victory Los Angeles, the city's COVID-19 response initiative.
Los Angeles Port Police and Logistics Victory volunteers coordinated the distribution of 18-pound frozen turkeys to designated families in San Pedro and Wilmington. The Los Angeles Police Department also distributed turkeys to families throughout South Los Angeles, port officials said.
The donation of 300 meals will go to homeless shelters in the Harbor area on Thanksgiving Day at the veteran-operated Wilmington A Bridge Home, the Salvation Army's Sunrise Shelter in San Pedro and the San Pedro A Bridge Home operated by Harbor Interfaith. The meals will be hand-delivered by Los Angeles Port Police.
“CMA CGM has a long tradition of giving back to the communities we serve,'' said Ed Aldridge, the president of CMA CGM America. “There is no doubt that COVID-19 has fundamentally changed how all of us will experience Thanksgiving this year, and while it remains an uncertain time, the CMA CGM Group is honored to help Los Angeles families celebrate this important holiday.''
The donation by CMA CGM to the Los Angeles area is part of a larger charitable food distribution initiative by the France-based company, which will feed more than 35,000 Americans across the nation over the Thanksgiving holiday, port officials said.
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