Restaurant recognizes Lakeside Organic Gardens workers with meal
Restaurant recognizes Lakeside Organic Gardens workers with meal
Charlie Hong Kong Restaurant honored field workers who harvest and pack chard for Lakeside Organic Gardens with a special lunch of Asian fusion cuisine on Earth Day. The restaurant has purchased over 70 tons of chard from Lakeside in the past five years. Restaurant Owners Rudy and Carolyn Rudolph are seen in the upper left-hand corner. Members of their staff can be seen in black shirts in the front row. (Photo courtesy of Lakeside Organic Gardens)Charlie Hong Kong Restaurant took time to honor the field workers who harvest and pack chard at Lakeside Organic Gardens in a very special way on April 22, Earth Day. With a hoop house set up as a dining hall, a variety of organic Asian fusion cuisine — for which the restaurant is known — was served to the workers by restaurant owners Rudy and Carolyn Rudolph, their head chef Juan Santiago and staff.
The restaurant is located in Santa Cruz, CA, and Lindsey Roberts, who handles marketing communications for Lakeside, said, “Carolyn and Rudy have been buying produce from Lakeside Organic Gardens for 16 years and estimate to have purchased around 70 tons of chard in the just these past five years. Approximately two cups of chard go into every noodle bowl they sell at their restaurant.”
Lakeside Organic Gardens, located in Watsonville, CA, is one of the nation’s larger family-owned-and-operated shippers of organic produce, growing and marketing more than 45 commodities throughout the year.
“We are here at Lakeside Organic to honor all of you here for your very hard work at growing, harvesting, packing [and] delivering the red, rainbow and green chard,” said Rudy Rudolph, addressing workers in Spanish. “In the last five years alone, you have supplied us with over 5,200 cases of chard.
“As people who are doing something for humanity while respecting the environment, you are our heroes. Farmworkers is the name we give to the people who work the land, who harvest the fields, united beneath one sky. Thank you, farmworkers, for the fruits (chard) your hands have brought us. We will grow stronger and kinder as we eat what you have grown.”
