By Donna Spence, Brockport Migrant Education
On behalf of the migrant farm workers who benefited from the SUNY Brockport campus-wide collection of funds for food this past summer, I would like to thank you. Hundreds of farm workers came to our community this summer, as they do every summer, to harvest the fruit and vegetable crops that are grown in our area. Farms were suffering from one of the worst droughts we have experienced in Western New York when these farm workers arrived. With little more than the clothes on their backs, these workers came hoping to find work in the fields. Because of the drought, crops were light and not yet ready to pick. Sharon Jacobson, women's studies and chair of the Better Community Coalition, spearheaded a campus-wide collection of food, and money to purchase food to help tide the farm workers over until they could begin work.
More than $500 was donated. The food was delivered by outreach workers from Brockport Migrant Education Project to about 200 farm workers and their families. It seems somewhat ironic for the people who harvest the food for the best-fed nation in the world to be without enough food for themselves. Agriculture is the largest industry in New York state, yet agricultural workers are among the lowest paid workers in our nation. The humble thank yous and God bless yous that the outreach workers heard as they distributed the bounty that this campus community provided to hungry farm workers will ring in the ears of us lucky enough to have had the experience of helping them meet a basic need. As you are eating an apple or a salad or other freshly harvested food, remember the farm workers who toiled long hours in the fields to harvest the food we enjoy. Once again thank you to everyone who donated to the farm worker food fund. Words cannot express how much it helped the people who were hungry.
CCNY Conference
8 am - 6 pm
Counseling Centers of New York (CCNY) Conference
10 am - 4 pm
CCNY Conference
8 am - 6 pm
Counseling Centers of New York (CCNY) Conference
10 am - 4:15 pm
Counseling Centers of New York (CCNY) Conference
8 am - 1 pm
