TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Flores Concepts and Sì Charro Restaurants brought back their Tamales for Heroes program to support communities affected by the Los Angeles fires. Shamrock Foods is also helping by transporting the tamales.
“We knew that we wanted to get food out there as our contribution because money is different and we wanted to send something that was from Tucson and from our heart, and tamales speak to that," said Ray Flores, president of Flores Concepts and Sí Charro! Restaurants.
Flores says about 4,000 handmade tamales were delivered on Monday.
“When people are in trouble, right, whether it be any kind of despair, food heals," Flores said.
Shamrock Foods joined the effort by offering to deliver the food on their refrigerated semi-trucks.
“Shamrock fortunately has distribution into that market and they can get access to where it needed to go because that was the other thing. Like we needed to kind of act quickly. There were a lot of people that were displaced," Flores said.
The tamales were dropped off at a nonprofit called Hope the Mission in Southern California.
Flores says he wanted to make sure the food they were donating was easy to eat.
“Tamales are great because they’re microwavable, they kind of come in their own little package. They have protein, they have carbohydrates, fats. So they're kind of a good like healthy meal to carry you throughout the day," said Flores.
The Tamales for Heroes program started during the COVID-19 pandemic and then relaunched after the LA fires broke out to continue supporting communities in need.
“We wanna keep it going to see what we can do. This is something that can be a generation—this could be going on for 10 years of trying to rebuild that community," said Flores.
If you’d like to donate, details are here.
——
Jacqueline Aguilar is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9. Born and raised in Yuma, AZ., she is no stranger to the unforgiving Arizona heat. Now this U of A wildcat is excited to be back in Tucson and is looking forward to involving herself in the community. Share your story ideas with Jacqueline by emailing jacqueline.aguilar@kgun9.com or connecting on Facebook, Instagram or X.
