IRVINE : El Torito Sends Food to Tijuana Victims

El Torito Restaurants Inc. loaded two trucks with 30 tons of beans, rice, pasta and other staples Thursday and sent them south to aid flood victims in Tijuana.

The shipment is the largest single food donation by an Orange County company since the early January rains flooded the border city, according to Red Cross spokeswoman Judy Iannaccone.

The Orange County Red Cross has coordinated three truck trips of food and other supplies to Tijuana and will make a final trip Tuesday with diapers, blankets and other donated supplies, Iannaccone said.

An estimated 10,000 people are still homeless after two weeks of heavy rains flooded Tijuana. The waters and mudslides killed 31 people, destroyed property, tore up roads and left parts of the city without drinking water.

The Irvine-based El Torito restaurant chain ordered extra food from its suppliers to make the shipment and solicited 1,200 cases of orange and grapefruit juice from Sunkist Growers Inc., company spokeswoman Lee Healy said. Sunkist normally supplies El Torito restaurants with its sweet and sour mix for margaritas, she said.

El Torito officials decided to make the large donation because it is a Mexican restaurant and many of its workers are from Mexico, Healy said. “This is the first time we’ve ever done anything quite this big,” she said.

Frito-Lay Inc. donated the two trucks and drivers to get the food to Tijuana, Iannaccone said. The food will be distributed by La Cruz Roja, the Mexican Red Cross.