Posts Tagged: solidarity

The Victory of Dickerson Road United in Struggle

This update comes to us from Sarah Marriott, Development Manager for Workers’ Dignity/Dignidad Obrera. On the heels of Workers’ Dignity’s (WD) involvement in the successful Mosaic Apartment housing campaign which kept 89 BIPOC families housed, our team received another call from folks seeking anti-eviction support. This call came from a group of concerned tenants living… Read more »

Student Action with Farmworkers is Back in the Fields!

This update comes to us from Melinda Wiggins, Executive Director for Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF). It has been a long year, but I am pleased to share that our Into the Fields program is back in the fields. We launched this year’s internship and leadership development program with an online orientation. The 25 SAF… Read more »

Embodying the Beloved Community, Living Esperanza

Reflection on creating community and hope in the midst of Covid-19 This reflection comes from Rev. Amy Cantrell, Co-Director for BeLoved Asheville, a Presbyterian Hunger Program grant partner. Ana is a community leader and a part of our Community Leadership Network. We met her early in 2020 as the pandemic descended. She is an essential… Read more »

Community Resilience Amid Uncertainty

This reflection comes from Brenda Becerra, Senior Development Associate for Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), a Presbyterian Hunger Program grant partner. Our world turned upside down in what seems like one day to another when the pandemic hit and we had to accept this new reality and try to adapt fast. We had no… Read more »

Beyond the Rural Urban Divide

Cow people spell 'solid' with signs Cultivating Solidarity in Tough Times By John Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders  The full article is here (pages 9-11) and includes great content on U.S. farm justice history.  Family Farm Defenders is a strategic partner of PHP and a fabulous, farmer-led group that is committed to solidarity and movement building. You can find… Read more »

Essentially Disposable: Farmworkers in the Pandemic

graphic with farmworker webinar info REGISTER for the Webinar Farmworkers are essential to the feeding of our nation. More personally, they ensure that you and I have food on our plates each day. Called “essential” during this pandemic, they are being treated no differently than ever – with disrespect, abuse and endangerment. Farmworkers are risking their lives to grow and… Read more »

Rural abundance core to justice, climate and food

Winners of Food Sovereignty Prize Heartland of the country This phrase conjures up images of farmers in red flannel shirts, combines, rich soil, and giant bundles of wheat. While this can still be found, the reality is often less Norman Rockwell. Decrepit barns, empty silos, abandoned mills and boarded-up Main Streets are common. Presbyterian Today’s Donna Jackson writes about how… Read more »

Rural abundance core to justice, climate and food

Heartland of the country This phrase conjures up images of farmers in red flannel shirts, combines, rich soil, and giant bundles of wheat. While this can still be found, the reality is often less Norman Rockwell. Decrepit barns, empty silos, abandoned mills and boarded-up Main Streets are common. Presbyterian Today’s Donna Jackson writes about how… Read more »

Your impact through PHP

kids holding hands and jumping Your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing and to the Presbyterian Hunger Fund make a huge difference in lives around the world. See below how your dollars provide critical funding to groups on the ground fighting hunger and addressing underlying causes. These partners –  powerful, effective grassroots groups and national coalitions – work to change… Read more »

Fans of Farm Workers and NFWM

“WE CELEBRATE the 40 years of ministry of the National Farm Worker Ministry!”

Dominique holding 35 pound bucket of tomatoes

I am Dominique Aulisio. Through volunteering with NFWM and starting a Youth and Young Adult Network chapter in Orlando, I have had the opportunity to get to know farm workers and work hand in hand with them to fight the injustice they face.

YAYAs learn about hope, share in each others’ cultures, and learn the organizing skills we need to impact our world. As a young person, working with NFWM as an ally to farm workers has given me confidence in our power to change the systems that oppress farm workers and keep our communities divided. NFWM/YAYA is unique and vital to the farm worker movement and to the broader fight for social justice. I am grateful to have the continued opportunity to work alongside NFWM in the farm worker movement.

 

Olga speaking at a public rallyI am Olgha Sierra Sandman. I came from Mexico to enter a college for women in training for missionary work hoping to be sent to Africa. That changed when I had the opportunity to work for two summers for the National Migrant Ministry. After my marriage to Rev. Bob Sandman, we continued in Migrant Ministry.

In May 1971, I attended the first meeting of the National Farm Worker Ministry Board in La Paz, CA. I was fortunate to be a part of the evolving of the Migrant Ministry into the National Farm Worker Ministry. NFWM opened the door widely and I entered. The farm workers also opened their arms and embraced me, both giving me many opportunities to work side by side.

Forty years later, I reflect in gratitude and praise God, for giving me this life-time opportunity to be part of a movement of justice, for learning from the farm workers about self-determination and sacrifice, about fighting for dignity, and respect and for bringing to our tables the food that sustains life.

Written in my heart are Cesar Chavez’s words of wisdom: “When you work for justice, you can’t afford being a sprinter, you must be a long distance runner.” As I approach the finishing line, I’m ready to pass the baton on to all future runners for justice who will, as I have, stay the course and support the National Farm Worker Ministry and its courageous stand to be faithful to the struggle of the farm workers.

 

Maria in a field of grapesI am Maria Vidal. Years ago, I worked in the fields picking apricots and peaches near Stockton, California. When I learned that 15 farm workers had died from heat stress in California’s fields since 2005, I was motivated to act.

Now I am a volunteer with the National Farm Worker Ministry’s Support Group, LIVE – Luces y Voces de Esperanza. I and my fellow supporters seek ways that our people can be valued for their work. Above all, we bring farm workers hope that their dignity as persons will be respected. We let them know that they are not alone. It is a privilege to give my time and be in solidarity with the National Farm Worker Ministry, because NFWM works to see to it that farm workers have a voice.

 

And you can celebrate and contribute to the work of NFWM

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