Florida Catholic | Editorial

Long–sleeve drive another huge success

Published: 04.04.08

Our readers truly rolled up their sleeves and embraced the Lenten spirit of giving.”

We asked for help. You responded — in a big way.

For the third year in a row, the Florida Catholic sponsored an annual Lenten campaign. Instead of almsgiving, we asked for “arms-giving,” because we sought long-sleeve cotton shirts for farmworkers throughout our state. The shirts help protect the workers from exposure to sun, prickly thorns, pesticides and other dangers in the fields.

Response to the Long-Sleeve Relief Drive has grown each year, and this year the result was nothing short of overwhelming. Our readers and other groups that hosted drives donated more than 14,400 shirts statewide. Most Precious Blood Parish in Oviedo brought in more than 1,000 shirts on its own. Boone High School, a public school in Orlando, organized a “Shirt Off Your Back” drive, organized by the Spanish Club and its moderator, a St. James Cathedral parishioner, bringing in 700 shirts.

Shirts dropped off at the Florida Catholic office alone filled a cargo van twice and another small truck. For a while, it seemed as though shirts were everywhere, stacked in hallways and tucked into corners and offices.

Shirts have been taken to farmworker centers all over Florida — Quincy, Crescent City, Apopka, Pierson, Immokalee, Indiantown and points in between. The need is great. The workers have few laundry facilities. They quickly become soiled or covered in pesticide residue, which is sometimes hard to wash off. So after just a few days of use, the shirts must be thrown away. In the course of a busy harvest season, those who bring the food to our table or the ferns to our florists, will go through a lot of shirts. The Lenten drive has been a great aid to them.

At some of the small centers that minister to the farmworkers, they were overwhelmed by the deluge of shirts and at one point said, “No more, please.”

The drive, now almost too successful, began a few years ago, when we ran a story about the difficulties farmworkers faced and how much damage the sun and pesticides did to their arms. At a staff meeting, we talked about how we might help, and came up with a plan to ask our readers for help. The first year brought in a few thousand shirts; the second year, more than 6,000. And this year’s more than 14,000 exceeded all expectations.

In the meantime, we have learned that there are other needs among the farmworkers. In addition to decent affordable housing, we found that the workers and their families need basics such as diapers and toiletries. We may be able to address some of these concerns. So stay tuned. The “Long-Sleeve Relief Drive” may take a different form next year as we rally our readers’ support for those who do a difficult job in the fields. Some of the groups that rallied with large shirt drives this year may consider doing their own drives on their own in the future. The need for shirts can still be met while we ask our readers to help address other needs.

On behalf of those who have been helped by your donations of long-sleeved shirts, the Florida Catholic staff expresses its gratitude. Our readers truly rolled up their sleeves and embraced the Lenten spirit of giving. Let’s continue that spirit throughout the year.

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Long–sleeve drive another huge success

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