State opens centers to help workers hurt by cold

Centers in 10 central counties will give food, shelter and other benefits to those who lost jobs because of citrus crop freeze.

By WILLIAM DIEPENBROCK

The Orange County Register

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has opened 10 one-stop centers in central California to assist the 12,500 workers expected to lose jobs because of the cold snap that crushed the citrus crop.

The centers – in the 10 counties where the state has declared an emergency – will provide food, shelter, unemployment benefits and aid in finding work for the fruit pickers and packers.

"We must help those who have been affected by the freeze," Schwarzenegger said in a news release. "These centers will bring all the state's services into one place so the people who need immediate help can get assistance as soon as possible."

The assistance centers will be open on weekdays, starting today.

Six mobile office units will bring similar services to hard-to-reach areas of the counties.

The cold snap, which hit Jan. 12, has wiped out about $1 billion in citrus crops. Impacts on other hard-hit crops have yet to be determined. In addition to the farmworker jobs, the crop failure is expected to hurt hundreds of others – such as truckers – whose jobs rely on crops.