Cal State LA and Optimum Seismic Events Set to Help YMCA-LA Raise Funds, Volunteers

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As COVID-19 continues its tight grip on much of the nation, the deadly virus is taking a serious toll in Los Angeles County.

Weeks after the Los Angeles Times referred to the county's predominately Latino southeast area as an "epicenter" of the virus' impacts, people and businesses are still experiencing significant economic and social pain as COVID-19 spreads across the region.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has been met with widespread hunger.  Of the approximately 10 million residents that call LA County home, an estimated 2 million people grapple with food insecurity every day," says Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis. 

Against this backdrop, a group representing Cal State LA, Optimum Seismic, Inc. and the Southeast LA Collaborative have stepped up to help the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles  meet the growing need to help area families put food on the table.

"Cal State LA, the YMCA-LA and Optimum Seismic partnered during July to generate greater public awareness, financial contributions and volunteer support for YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles' efforts to feed families, which currently provides more than 70,000 meals each week," says Juan De La Cruz, Senior Vice President of Community Development, YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles. "The YMCA-LA also delivers 6,000 bags of groceries to seniors and provides hygiene centers for homeless families."

"These services strengthen the foundations of our communities by promoting youth development, healthy living and social responsibility," adds De La Cruz. "During these difficult times, the YMCA-LA needs help to continue providing this assistance."

Cal State LA has been a major supporter of YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles services through the Achieve LA program that involves the four most distressed areas in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area.

"We are committed to working with our partners on initiatives that benefit our communities," stated Cal State LA Executive Vice President Dr. Jose Gomez.  "The YMCA-LA is clearly serving as a community leader by helping families affected by COVID-19 in so many ways."

The partnership did an initial one-hour Facebook Live program and extensive social media campaign to generate public support for the Rio Vista YMCA, which serves 7,000 'Grab & Go' meals per week to families. Supervisor Solis recognized this partnership and praised the efforts of the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles as "a beacon of hope."

The partnership is now committed to expanding support for the YMCA by holding Facebook Live programs featuring services at three YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles locations:

"COVID-19 and high unemployment are taking a heavy toll in the communities served by the YMCA-LA," adds De La Cruz.  "The YMCA-LA appreciates support from businesses such as Optimum Seismic and educational institutions such as Cal State LA, which helps us carry out our mission of serving kids, families and communities."

"As COVID-19 impacts increase, social and economic needs have grown dramatically in our County, and Optimum Seismic plans to continue helping the YMCA-LA draw attention to its programs serving local communities," said Optimum Seismic Chief Operating Officer Ali Sahabi. "We need to generate even greater public awareness, contributions and volunteer support for the YMCA-LA."

Sahabi urged businesses and individuals to contribute to YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles' Equity Campaign at https://bit.ly/2GpvBdq to support meals for residents impacted by COVID-19.

Noted television anchor Jackeline Cacho will host one-hour programs featuring food distributions and other services offered by the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles. The Facebook Live events can be seen online at www.facebook.com/jackycachotv/ on the following dates: Saturday, Sept.12; Friday, Sept. 18, and Thursday, October 15. Programs will begin at 10:30 a.m. Visit https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=292576058657316 to view the recorded programs. 

About YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles
Since the pandemic crisis YMCA-LA has been supporting the community by providing over 1 million Grab & Go meals to kids and teens and their families, delivering tens of thousands of meals to homebound seniors and providing 25,000+ hours of free child care to emergency responders and essential workers. YMCA-LA has leveraged its facilities to provide over 25,000 showers for the homeless and is hosting over 70 blood drives to ensure LA County's blood supply is ready for all of our needs. The YMCA-LA also wishes to thank their members for their commitment. Without them, the Y could not have provided the level of community support during these difficult times.  For more information on YMCA-LA programs visit www.ymcala.org

About Cal State LA
Cal State LA is the premier comprehensive public university in the heart of Los Angeles. Cal State LA is ranked number one in the United States for the upward mobility of its students. Cal State LA is dedicated to engagement, service, and the public good, offering nationally recognized programs in science, the arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education, and the humanities. Founded in 1947, the University serves more than 26,000 students and has more than 250,000 distinguished alumni.

Cal State LA is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs, Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center, Hydrogen Research and Fueling Facility, Billie Jean King Sports Complex and the TV, Film and Media Center. For more information, visit www.CalStateLA.edu.

About Optimum Seismic
The Optimum Seismic team has been making California cities safer since 1984 by providing full-service seismic retrofit and renovation engineering and construction services on multifamily residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Optimum experts have completed more than 3,500 projects. Optimum Seismic's earthquake retrofit services include work on soft-story multifamily apartment buildings, unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings and tilt-up, non-ductile concrete and steel moment frame commercial buildings. For information, contact Optimum Seismic at (323) 678-4686 or visit OptimumSeismic.com.

Contact:
Andrea Aguilar
Optimum Seismic
323.605.0312
[email protected]

SOURCE Optimum Seismic, Inc.; YMCA; Cal State LA

Related Links

http://www.CalStateLA.edu