Bikers Rev Up Thanksgiving in East L.A.

"Bikers Helping Families" arrived to help the community have a Thanksgiving dinner.

Celia Carillo gave thanks for the bikers who rode through East Los Angeles and left four days of food for her four small children in their wake.

"Bikers Helping Families" made the pit stop on November 21 at the Maravilla Service Center in East Los Angeles, arriving just in time to set the Thanksgiving tables of a number of families in need. They included some of Carillo's friends — Guadalupe Macias, Roxana Valderrama .and Esther Rodriguez — who also got some help from the bikers, who made their mission as part of the Volunteers of America Greater Los Angeles (VOALA).

Celia Carrillo, Guadalupe Macias, Roxana Valderrama, and Esther Rodriguez also received Thanksgiving turkeys.

Carrillo is a single mother of four children under the age 10. She said that her family's financial situation is very difficult. There's no work to be had, she says, and her welfare check of $660 a month barely pays for the rent on a garage in East Los Angeles.

"The situation is very difficult," she said. "There's no work, no money, and they've taken away 40% of the welfare, which is what helped us to live. The immigrant from the Mexican state of Puebla says the food from the bikers makes a huge difference.

"We'll eat for four days with this turkey," she said, adding that she planned to cook the bird with potatoes and vegetables on Thanksgiving Day.

Maria Estrada and Paulina Garza also got in line as at 9 a.m. to receive the traditional Thanksgiving turkey.

Garza, who emigrated from Mexico in 1940 and worked for 30 years in Los Angeles at a company that makes water faucets, said lining up for charity is new for her.

Maria Estrada and Paulina Garza got in line at 9 a.m. to be the first to receive the traditional Thanksgiving turkeys at the Maravilla Service Center in East Los Angeles.

"I'm 87 years old and it's the first time that I've come to ask for a turkey," she said. "I didn't do it before out of embarrassment, but now, the way things are, the situation has taken away my shame. I always said 'Yes!' to my boss. Now I make a living selling tamales and sugar cookies from my house to help my family and to eat, too."

The same day saw newly elected U.S. Representative Judy Chu open a new field office at the same Maravilla Center that hosted the food giveaway.

"It's important to be in East Los Angeles," Chu said. "It's important for the residents for us to continue working here."

Mireya Olivera is editor of Impulso.

Photos by Impulso.

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