Ecstatic exchange

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    On behalf of the Labor Exchange Board, the workers, and the many hirers we serve, I would like to share our joy and publicly thank the City Council members and staff for increasing our funding from $9,000 to $20,000. That is, an increase in funding from less than 20 percent last year to almost 50 percent for the fiscal year 1999-2000. This is an absolutely wonderful indication that the city takes seriously its partnership role in helping the poorest members of our society while at the same time advocating a practical and humanitarian approach to the unwanted presence of large groups of day workers on local street corners. At the same time, it is providing a free, safe and convenient service to hirers in need of day workers.

    In the six years that I have been a volunteer with the center, I have visited and met with many other day worker organizers. The city of Malibu should know that in terms of numbers of poor workers served and numbers whose lives and families have been positively changed, in some cases, drastically changed for the good, Malibu is a project of which the community can be very proud.

    There were many who really took precious time out of their schedules to help the center with this year’s critical funding request including several of the local churches, the Chamber of Commerce, the Las Flores business owners, Sharon Barovsky, Bill Carson, Mary Frampton, Michael Jordan, Georgianna Mc Burney, Rev. Larry Peacock, Dan Wallace, and those petition circulators, letter writers, faxers, and callers. This kind of community support is greatly appreciated and absolutely imperative to the viability of any community project such as the Labor Exchange.

    At the risk of being redundant, thank you all once again.

    Mona Loo, Volunteer Board member

    president, Malibu Community Labor Exchange, Inc.