Improve your image by complying with the law and go home!

Friday, March 28, 2008
Lake Forest day laborers will volunteer time in fire-damaged areas
Workers seek to demonstrate their contributions to community and give back.
By ALEJANDRA MOLINA
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
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LAKE FOREST – Elfego Fuentes and other fellow day laborers will meet on Jeronimo Road Saturday morning not to solicit for work but to volunteer, and improve their image.

Lake Forest day laborers along with laborers from Los Angeles will take part in a project to aid communities affected by last year's fires. The day of service by the Day Laborer Fire Relief Brigade is one of several in Southern California organized by area day laborers.

"The idea came from them (day laborers)," said Veronica Federovsky, West Coast coordinator for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "When the fire started in OC they told me, 'We want to help but we don't know how.'"

Day laborers will meet at 8 a.m. on Jeronimo Road and will be taken to Modjeska Canyon to repair some of the damage caused by the fire. Workers will help stop erosion that could lead to property damage.

For Lake Forest laborers, the day of service is a way to integrate in the communities that they live and work in.

"We want to show that we don't bother anyone," said Fuentes, 23, a Lake Forest resident who came from Guatemala about four years ago. "We give a lending hand when they need us….we want to give back to the community."

The Inter-Canyon League Santiago Fire Recovery Group will provide food and drinks for the crew of about 40 laborers. Day laborers will meet in Modjeska Canyon at 9 a.m. to get organized and then go to the work sites.

Federovsky said the morning will start with a press conference where labor and immigrant rights organizations will discuss the tactics that Lake Forest has been using against day laborers. They will also talk about contributions day laborers make to the different communities where they seek for work, she said.

Workers filed a suit last year backed by American Civil Liberties Union opposing an ordinance that banned people from soliciting work on sidewalks in Lake Forest. While the city struck down the rule last spring, ACLU attorneys haven't withdrawn the suit, arguing that deputies still park patrol cars at the corner to intimidate prospective employers and hound workers.

In 2006, the city passed a no-trespassing law that can restrict the laborers to standing on the sidewalk when soliciting jobs.

Business owners and residents have complained for more than a decade about day laborers congregating around the half-mile area. They say the men loiter, urinate in public and litter.

"We want to show that we're not criminals," said Ivan Perez, 20, who lives in Santa Ana and has been standing for work in Lake Forest for about three years now. "We want to help."

Contact the writer: amolina@ocregister.com or 949-454-7360
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