California Legislators Open "Relief Café" To Raise Hurricane Recovery Funds

Assemblymembers Dennis Mountjoy (R-Monrovia) and Gene Mullin (D-South San Francisco) are sponsoring a caffeine-themed hurricane recovery fundraiser in California’s state capitol.  Inspired by New Orleans’ famed Café du Monde, the lawmakers are serving coffee and pastries to state legislators and staff pledging their daily java budget to Katrina relief.

“This is an effort as symbolic as it is literal – Californians are empathetic to their fellow Americans struggling to recover from this monumental natural disaster.  Along with our resources we send a message of hope that just as we survived earthquakes and fires to emerge stronger, the communities devastated by Katrina will similarly be restored” the legislators stated on the Assembly floor.

The “Relief Café” will operate until the end of the California legislative session next Friday, September 9, 2005. The coffee is provided in part by local merchants and many of the pastries offered in exchange for Katrina donations have been baked by Mountjoy and Mullin’s staff and friends.

The Relief Café opened to brisk business Friday, September 2, 2005 at 9:00 a.m. outside Assemblymember Mullin’s office, Room 2136 of the State Capitol. Members of the media are most welcome.

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Capitol Office: State Capitol, Room 2170 -- Sacramento, CA 95814 -- Phone: 916.319.2019-- Fax: 916.319.2119
District Office: 1528 S. El Camino Real, Suite 302 -- San Mateo, CA 94402 -- Phone: 650.341.4319 -- Fax: 650.341.4676