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WILMINGTON (CNS) - A drive-through food distribution will replace the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Labor Coalition Parade to mark Labor Day for the second consecutive year Monday because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Labor Community Services has set a goal to distribute food to 3,500 families at the “Labor of Love” food distribution event at Banning Park in Wilmington. The distribution will be held from 9 a.m.-noon. Face masks are required.
Coronavirus vaccines will also be available.
More than 3,000 families affected by the coronavirus pandemic received food at last year's distribution, organizers said.
Labor Community Services is a nonprofit organization that has been assisting unemployed and underemployed union families with groceries for more than six decades in partnership with Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
Labor Day, the yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of the nation, was first celebrated in the United States on Sept. 5, 1882 in New York City.
In 1887, Oregon became the first state to formally recognize Labor Day. By 1894, 31 of the then-44 states had made Labor Day a holiday when Congress passed a bill designating the first Monday in September a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and territories.
In his Labor Day proclamation, President Joe Biden wrote, “On this Labor Day, we honor the pioneers who stood up for the dignity of working people -- leaders like Cesar Chavez, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., A. Phillip Randolph, John L. Lewis, Samuel Gompers, Frances Perkins and many more.
“We must recommit ourselves to advancing the historic progress these trailblazers made as we work to deliver a decent life with security, respect, and dignity for all.”