PERRY, Iowa — Zuli Garcia is the founder of the nonprofit Knock and Drop Iowa, an organization providing the city of Perry with a $5,000 grant following the layoff notice of over 1,200 employees at Tyson Foods.
"$5,000 isn't sufficient, I actually calculated it this morning that 66 families that I'll be able to feed with $5,000. That's not a lot, especially when you're talking about 1,200 employees and their families. We're thinking, what 5,000, 7,000, 8,000, which is a whole community," Garcia said.
Knock and Drop isn't the only organization providing aid to the Perry community. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is stepping in and placing calls to trade companies who may be interested in hiring those being laid off.
"The important thing now is for not only to go from immediate needs that the workers might have, but to get job opportunities that exist because we know that we're in a state that needs workers, we can't afford to lose these workers," LULAC representative Joe Enriquez Henry said.
LULAC is also trying to help them bring more money in too.
"We know that the workers at Tyson make anywhere from $37,000 to $43,000 a year at the facility based upon $18 to $21 an hour," Enriquez Henry added. "So finding work in the skilled trades will definitely increase their take-home pay. So we hope that that happens."
Garcia feels the Perry community has been through enough adversity this year, and deserves a hand.
"Something's hit us big. and it's going to affect a community that has already gone through such pain this year. I mean, January, we all know what happened then. and we're like two months, three months into it and look at what's happening now," Zuli Garcia, told Local 5.