Aid to comfort the victims and families of the devastating earthquakes in Central Italy Valley are coming from all over. And that includes the Valley.
From now through Sunday, Sept. 4, Il Fornaio, a chain Italian restaurant in Woodland Hills, is donating proceeds from a specific menu item known as (italics) Bucatini all’Amatriciana, (italics end) a tomato spaghetti with cured pork belly.
The meal is being served in Italian restaurants worldwide to raise money for the quake victims in Amatrice, a small town in the Apennine Mountains in Central Italy.
The area Italian restaurants helping out with the quake relief. Il Fornaio in Woodland Hills is taking part in the below listed promotion to help raise money.
At least two Euros ($2.26) will be donated from each meal sold.
“This is something corporately we are doing in all our restaurants,” a supervisor at the restaurant said. We’ve have sold several meals so we are making progress.”
On Monday, Aug. 29, Los Angeles City Hall was lit in Italy’s national colors of green, white and red tonight in memory of the earthquake victims.
Los Angeles Councilman Joe Buscaino, Italian Consul General Antonio Verde and Monsignor Antonio Cacciapuoti led a candlelight vigil at City Hall in memory of the more than 290 people people killed — 230 in Amatrice — and dozens more missing during the magnitude-6.2 earthquake on Aug. 24.
“The thoughts and prayers of everyone in Los Angeles are with the Italian people,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti, whose paternal great-grandfather was born in Italy and emigrated to Mexico.
“We have a strong and historic bond with them, and are all too familiar with the enormously difficult aftermath of a major earthquake. Lighting City Hall in the colors of their nation’s flag is a symbol of our commitment to stand with them in a time of sorrow, loss, and recovery.”
City Hall will continue to be lit in green, white and red through Friday, Garcetti said.
More than 95,000 Los Angeles residents are of Italian descent, according to Buscaino, whose district includes San Pedro, one of the city’s largest Italian enclaves.
“Last week’s tragedy strikes at everyone’s hearts whether we are living in Los Angeles, London, or Rome,” Buscaino said.
“The heart-breaking images of children being pulled from the rubble reminds us that even nations with sophisticated disaster preparedness and world-class building codes need to realize that much more work remains to be done to ensure that every man, woman and child is safe when disaster strikes.”
Donations for relief efforts can be made online to the Italian Red Cross at http://ow.ly/nBMZ303HRYn. Donations can also be made to Save the Children and the Italian American Relief Fund.
City News Service contributed to this story.