Business of Helping : Local Firms Pouring Aid Into Riot-Torn L.A. Area
The new personal computers came from United Education Institute of Santa Ana. The office furniture, draped in protective blankets, came from the Anaheim law firm of Zinn & Lorand.
And even though his Anaheim trucking business is operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, Ron Harding took the first load of goods, worth more than $25,000, to South Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Many more deliveries are expected to be made throughout the summer as the Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County initiated the first concerted effort by Orange County businesses to help small companies hurt by the rioting in late April and early May.
Acting individually, other Orange County companies have already started to provide products and services to small businesses, including free legal and accounting services and free repairs on damaged dry-cleaning machines.
Also on Tuesday, for instance, Downey Savings & Loan Chairman Maurice L. McAlister opened a $100,000 savings deposit at Broadway Federal Savings & Loan, which lost its main office to the looting and arson of the riots. A Downey subsidiary also made a $100,000 deposit. Both were aimed at helping tiny Broadway Federal make home loans in the area.
McAlister, who said he is urging his friends to make deposits at Broadway, also offered Downey’s services in marketing and loan processing and in partially funding some Broadway loans, which would enable the family owned Los Angeles thrift to make larger loans than it would normally be allowed to make.
And AST Research Inc. in Irvine is donating $50,000 worth of computers and computer systems to the Rebuild LA task force, which is headed by former commissioner of baseball Peter V. Ueberroth.
But the black chamber has become the central force in gathering goods and services from smaller companies, mostly minority-owned firms, that want to help.
Offers of aid from Orange County businesses started pouring into the Black Chamber’s offices within days after the riots, said its president, Aaron L. Lovejoy. The chamber began collecting goods, storing much of it at Ron Harding’s trucking warehouse, as it devised its distribution plan.
Lovejoy said his group is channeling all donated goods and services it collects to the First A.M.E. Church, which acted as a safe haven during the riots and is now a clearinghouse for aid to local residents and businesses.
The ultimate aim, he said, is to urge local residents to build small businesses that will create new jobs in South Los Angeles neighborhoods.
The Rev. Cecil (Chip) Murray, senior minister of First A.M.E. Church, said that some of the new computers and office equipment will be used in the city’s Arsenio Hall Youth Center, which is scheduled to open later this month. Other donated equipment will be sent to small enterprises whose office equipment was damaged or destroyed during the riots.
The Arsenio Hall center, originally planned to provide new skills to homeless people and disadvantaged youths, will now also serve as a community education center to develop computer and entrepreneurial skills of young residents of the neighborhood, Murray said.
“This will take hundreds of young people into the computer age,” Murray said.
Orange County business executives were motivated to make donations, they said, not only because they were appalled by the wanton destruction of property but also because they were moved by pleas for help from many small-business owners who had struggled to survive during the recession, only to see their work go up in smoke and fire.
“What I saw on TV were images of frustration and anger, and it was ugly,” said Abdi Lajevardi, president and founder of United Education Institute, a Santa Ana company which operates several vocational schools in Southern California.
“But then, after a while, I saw very nice images of people helping each other,” he said. “I saw blacks, Koreans and Hispanics helping each other repair their community.”
He said he was so moved by what he saw that he caused United Education to donate about $20,0000 worth of personal computers.
Some of the companies also felt that helping their fellow business owners makes good business sense.
“When you realize that they need help and they are not able to pay, you can understand how bitter these people are,” said John Chun, president of Cleaning Machinery International Inc., an Anaheim wholesaler of dry-cleaning machines and related equipment.
“So we decided to give them a helping hand,” Chun said. “This will also be good for our relationship with our customers in the future.”
In the last four weeks, the service crews of CMI and Western Qualitech Corp. in Fullerton worked more than 12 hours daily repairing damaged dry-cleaning, press and conveyor machines. Except for spare parts, the services--which would normally cost between $50 and $60 an hour--were free.
Most of the cleaners hurt by the riots are owned by Korean and Latino immigrants, said Sunny Hwang, Western Qalitech’s owner.
“We knew we had to repair the machines, and it was hard to ask for labor payments when they are out of business,” Hwang said.
Larger companies such as Downey Savings are planning continuing roles in helping South Los Angeles rebuild. McAlister, the Newport Beach thrift’s chairman, said he will be talking with Broadway Federal’s executives about putting Downey loan officers in Broadway’s two branches not damaged by the riots to help the smaller thrift regroup.
The deposits from McAlister, Downey and the S&L;’s customers, including Newport Beach developer Randy Draper, will be put to good use, said Broadway Chairman Elbert T. Hudson.
It could take up to two years for the thrift to rebuild its headquarters on Broadway Avenue near 45th Street, he said. Meantime, the thrift will use a modular office that Home Savings of America is putting up for it on Broadway Federal’s parking lot across the street from its burned-out branch.
“We had a tremendous outpouring of sympathy and concern and tangible offers of assistance from many people,” Hudson said. The thrift is one of only three black-owned financial institutions in Los Angeles, and it has $96 million in assets.
Times staff writer James S. Granelli contributed to this report.
Good Neighbors
The good Samaritan spirit is not lost in Orange County. Several companies have donated goods and services to help businesses adversely affected by the civil unrest in Los Angeles late April and early May. * Company, City: United Education Institute, Santa Ana
Donation: New personal computers, computer training * Company, City: Downey Savings & Loan and Maurice L. McAlister, chairman, Newport Beach
Donation: Opened savings accounts of $100,000 each at Broadway Savings & Loan to help make home loans in the area; promises loan marketing, funding and processing aid * Company, City: AST Research Inc., Irvine
Donation: Desktop and portable personal computers * Company, City: Law offices of Zinn & Lorand, Anaheim
Donation: Office furniture, office telephone equipment * Company, City: Western Qualitech Corp., Fullerton
Donation: Free repair to dry-cleaning machines and washers (normal hourly fee: $50) * Company, City: Ron Harding Moving Services Inc., Anaheim
Donation: Free pickup and delivery of goods to L.A. (normal hourly fee: $72.50) * Company, City: Cleaning Machinery International Inc., Anaheim
Donation: Free repair to dry-cleaning machines and washers (normal hourly fee: $60) * Company, City: Stetler & Associates, Huntington Beach
Donation: Free consultation to help affected companies restart, apply for business loans and improve employee morale, business efficiency and sales (normal fee: $750 to $1,500 a day) * Company, City: Telephone Switch Newsletter, Huntington Beach
Donation: Free accounting, financial services to affected businesses; free counseling to assist small businesses restart * Company, City: Olive Garden Restaurant, Laguna Hills
Donation: Providing free meals to Black Chamber of Commerce members who volunteered to provide business assistance to affected business owners in Los Angeles Source: The Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County; companies listed
Researched by CRISTINA LEE and JAMES S. GRANELLI / Los Angeles Times
