REDDING (California) RECORD-SEARCHLIGHT

March 26, 2010

Cesar Chavez will be honored in Anderson on Friday

By Jim Schultz

ANDERSON - The life and times of the late labor and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez will be honored here Friday with a symbolic march and a celebratory dinner.

With Wednesday being Cesar Chavez Day - a state holiday - the 7th annual march begins at 6 p.m. Friday at the Anderson City Hall Community Center, 1887 Howard St.

Marchers will walk to Highway 273 and, following a loop route, return to the community center for a fundraising dinner. A $3 donation will be asked for children and a $5 donation will be sought for adults.

The dinner, which ends at 8 p.m., also will feature music, scholarship presentations and a slide show presentation highlighting Chavez's life.

"There's a lot of people who don't know Cesar Chavez," said Amelia Delatorre Ward, chairwoman of the Northern Hispanic Latino Coalition. "They should know. He did a lot for the Hispanic community, and we want to impress that upon the kids, especially."

Sponsors include the Northern Hispanic Latino Coalition, Anderson Parks and Recreation, Shasta County Public Health, Shasta College and AmeriCorps.

Chavez died April, 23, 1993. He was 66.

A U.S. Navy veteran, Chavez was described in 1968 by Robert F. Kennedy as "one of the heroic figures of our time" and founded the United Farm Workers of America in 1965.

A charismatic leader and tireless advocate of farmworker rights, Chavez, who himself was a migrant worker, gained worldwide attention in the 1960s after leading a successful boycott of grapes.

Through his unionization efforts, Chavez is credited with raising agricultural wages throughout California and bringing farmworkers medical insurance, employer-paid pensions, unemployment insurance and other benefits.