Hollywood film industry workers receive goods from food banks

Los Angeles, US, May 29 (efe-epa).- Some 1,500 people from the Hollywood film industry who are now out of work due to the COVID-19 crisis received a share of thousands of kilos of food and other essential goods on Friday.

Throughout the morning, hundreds of vehicles approached the north Los Angeles neighborhood of Sylmar to collect non-perishable goods such as tuna, corn and tomato sauce, as well as personal hygiene products.

“Our brothers and sisters in the entertainment industry have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and we are committed to helping them and their families overcome these difficult times,” the executive director of the charitable group Labor Community Services, Armando Olivas, told EFE.

According to organizers, the pandemic has left essential personnel in the sector, in which not all are wealthy movie stars and celebrities, in a particularly vulnerable position.

The food delivery was jointly organized by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, the Community Labor Services and Teamsters Local 399 as well as  the Hollywood Basic Crafts union.

Protected with masks and gloves and to the sound of rock classics, dozens of volunteers and members of the organizations distributed the many products among the workers and their families who approached the delivery point set up in a parking lot.

Without needing to get out of their vehicles, Hollywood employees who have seen their jobs affected by the coronavirus epidemic were able to pick up food for themselves and their families.

With cinemas closed and all filming interrupted, the coronavirus has completely paralyzed the Hollywood film industry, where after the first week of confinement, at least 120,000 jobs were destroyed, according to the largest US entertainment union, IATSE, which has around 150,000 affiliates.

However, it is expected that with the gradual reopening in California, the Hollywood film industry will also restart its activity, providing relief to many.

The United States reached 1,747,087 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Friday with 102,836 deaths, according to an independent count by Johns Hopkins University. EFE-EPA

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