George and Alice Chiala
Food and Philanthropy Go Hand in Hand
By Robin Shepherd
When George and Alice Chiala first met in 1967, they hit it off right from the start, but little did they know the amazing journey they would take together as parents, farming and food processing innovators, community leaders and philanthropists,
Alice was working at her uncle’ s corner drugstore in Morgan Hill while on summer break from San Jose State University where she was a Food Science major. George was studying business and economics at Santa Clara University and spending his summer working on his father Vito Chiala’ s bountiful farm just a few blocks away. When he stopped by the drugstore one day for an ice cream cone, they got to talking and discovered they had a lot in common.
After college they got married and were working their way up the career ladder when George came home one day and confided to Alice that instead of a 9 to 5 office job, he wanted to start his own farm, They agreed to give it a go, and George Chiala Farms was established in 1972.
“ It was hard at first,” George said.“ We planted 20 acres of strawberries and nine acres of sugar beets, along with tomatoes and peppers, Then we began to experiment with sweet corn … lots of it. And after that, garlic.”
They joined a small grower co-op and a strawberry co-op, George also joined the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau where he was steadily promoted up the ranks to become its president.
“ We gained a lot of valuable advice and experience from these groups,” George said.“ Mitch Mariani of Mariani Orchards was also a great mentor.”
During the 1970s and early 1980s, George focused on building the business while Alice worked as a substitute teacher and tutor and focused on raising their four children, Christy, Nicole, George Jr., and Tim.
“ George and I were always working, so when they weren’ t in school, the children helped out at the farm,” Alice said.“ There
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