Battin Announces Awards for Local Businesses

Posted On November 02, 2007 0 Comment

Senator Jim Battin (R – La Quinta) announced today that he will honor multiple local businesses with Resolutions from the State Senate for their participation in a plea for assistance on behalf of the 450 fire refugees that were evacuated to the Borrego Springs High School on Thursday and Friday of last week.

Battin’s office was called to arms by Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (R – Temecula) late Wednesday afternoon of last week to deliver packets of information to Hollingsworth’s constituents evacuated to Borrego Springs (an area in Hollingsworth’s district). The only open arteriole to the area was via the Highway 86 route through Julian. It quickly became clear that many other needs had to also be met.

“I have always known that the constituents of the Coachella Valley have a tremendous capacity for giving,” said Senator Jim Battin (R-La Quinta), “But even I was blown away by the tremendous response my office received. The owners and managers didn’t just give us leftovers or scraps, they gave the 450 evacuees the royal treatment and they threw their hearts into it.”

Due to the generous and rapid response of these companies, Battin’s office was able to coordinate caravans of trucks, flatbeds, SUV’s and catering vehicles for deliveries on both Thursday and Friday of over 2000 bottles of water, 150 lbs of bread, sandwich meats, peanut butter and jelly, 200 additional sandwiches, boxes of toothpaste, multiple non-perishable snack items, boxes of fresh fruit, and 450 hot meals for Friday night.

Senator Battin would like to thank the following companies and individuals for donating water, food, toothpaste and transportation for the fire evacuee aid effort:

Ralphs Fresh Fare on Country Club in Palm Desert, Chris Wyatt, Manager

Casuelas Café, Ray Rodriguez, Owner and many staff members

Sherman’s Deli, Sam Harris, Owner and many staff members

City Wok of Palm Desert

Trussworks, Inc. of Palm Desert, Tom Garland and Jeff Larsen

Coachella Valley Water District

Mission Springs Water District

Bighorn Country Club

Trader Joe’s in both La Quinta and Palm Desert

The FIND program, Roy Klopfenstein, volunteer

Coachella Valley Escrow

The employees of Guthy Renker