One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy delivers holiday meals to military families
Deputy Justin Cham packs his car full of Thanksgiving dinners destined for the families of sheriff's employees deployed in Iraq.
(
Rina Palta / KPCC
)
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Justin Cham has packed his white SUV with food. Mounds of carrots, stacks of pies, and of course, turkeys — massive ones.
"I told them the biggest and the tastiest birds that you can find, those are the ones I want," Cham said.
The bags of food are destined for the families of Sheriff's Department employees who are deployed in Iraq.
Back in 2003, Cham deployed to Iraq as a U.S. Marine. Then, about 150 Sheriff's employees were off at war. Since 2001, about 500 employees from the department have deployed, usually for 10-18 months each.
Facing these "unprecedented" numbers, in 2001, the department started a Military Activation Committee, tasked with making the transition in and out of military service as painless as possible. Now, the number of deployed is much lower, but Cham says, there are still eight Sheriff's employees in Iraq.
"And it's just as traumatic as when people deployed 10 years ago," Cham said. "So I think it's important we maintain our recognition and support of those people."
During most of the year, that means keeping up with soldiers' legal matters and paperwork that'll allow them to come back to work when they get home, hosting fundraisers and sending care packages. On holidays, like Thanksgiving, support means driving all over the county and even to Bakersfield and Riverside, delivering fully cooked, ready-to-go meals to their families.
Sponsored message
"A lot of times when someone's deployed, their family stops doing all the normal family activities." said Cham, whose son was 6 when he deployed. "When a holiday comes up, we make sure there are no excuses to not celebrate it."
For service members thousands of miles from home, he says, knowing that your family is being taken care of by your larger work family makes all the difference.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
