‘Food For Our Families,’ simple and basic please

KAREN OSBORNE | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Published: 10.22.08

ORLANDO | After Tropical Storm Fay, generous Catholics donated bottles of high-end baby formula and jars of expensive baby food to farmworkers in the Diocese of Venice.

At the end of the distribution period, many of those jars had been left on the table in favor of other staples and less pricey brands that also had been donated. Many of the mothers decided not to pick up the fancy baby food simply because it’s too expensive for them to buy on a normal basis, said Sheila Hopkins, associate director for social concerns for the Florida Catholic Conference in Tallahassee. Farmworker moms often puree for babies the rice, beans and corn that the rest of the family eats, or buy cheaper brands.

“Once you get babies used to a certain formula, (mothers) can’t be switching them around” because changes irritate babies’ stomachs, said Hopkins, who said farmworkers prefer to receive brands they can continue to buy when better times come.

Simple baby items and basic staples are part of the Food for Our Families drive sponsored by the Florida Catholic newspaper and the Florida Catholic Conference. Beginning Oct. 24 and continuing to Nov. 23, Farmworker Sunday, Catholics across Florida are being asked to donate specific items to help provide hope and stock the pantries of the people who put food on Florida’s kitchen tables. Individuals, parishes and organizations can participate in the effort by organizing their own drives to collect the items locally and delivering them to drop-off locations across Florida.

“We have Farmworker Sunday to honor the people who help bring the food to our table, but we say that they don’t get to share in the bounty, that they go hungry because they can’t afford to buy some of the things we can buy,” said Hopkins.

“The whole concept of what a farmworker is has been lost in translation,” said Mary St. Pierre, who is coordinating the effort as parish services manager for the Florida Catholic newspaper. “They work in the fields. They work in the ferneries. They are those who take jobs in groves that nobody else will take. They are landscapers. They work in the cement industry.”

They also make do every year with less and less – less work, less income, less food. At the last meeting of the farmworker justice committee of the Florida Catholic Conference, Hopkins said, “they expressed to us that many of the farmworkers have been cut back to two or three workdays, and that they are struggling to make ends meet.”

In addition, many crops were destroyed during Tropical Storm Fay, and the rising costs of fertilizer and other things needed to cultivate fields have caused planters to curtail other aspects of production that formerly employed farmworkers.

In these economic times, “the low-income population has suffered greatly and has grown,” St. Pierre said. “They’re asking for simple things, for the basics, and there will be no waste. They know how to survive with little. It isn’t like they asked for crab legs and lobster, but if we can help fill the pantry with the basic staples of life such as cornmeal, so they can make tortillas.”

The places farmworkers used to go for help, she said, are suffering.

“It’s truly a case of Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard and the cupboard is bare,” said St. Pierre, who noted that many of the food pantries on which farmworkers and other low-income Floridians rely are running low on staples.

The food drive will ask Catholics across the state to contribute a number of foods common to the diets of farmworkers across Florida, including rice, pinto beans, dried beans, Maseca brand corn masa mix (used to make tamales), dry pasta, canned tomatoes, canned vegetables and soup. In addition, locations around Florida will be collecting Good Start brand baby formula, baby juice, baby food, diapers of all sizes, and baby wipes.

“One of the things we hope people will respect is that this is their diet and what they’re used to eating,” said Hopkins. “It won’t help them to get a jar of spaghetti sauce if that is not what they are used to eating.”

Parishes and Catholic organizations can get involved in the food drive in a number of ways. Drive sponsors recently organized a speakers’ bureau that will connect parishes with representatives of farmworkers’ organizations for presentations about farmworkers’ lives and struggles. Parishes can also host “beans and rice” dinners, independent collections and other events meant to garner donations to the drive. The event is also an educational way to prepare for the season of Advent, which begins Sunday, Nov. 30, said St. Pierre.

“This is about walking in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ,” St. Pierre said. “These are some of the hardest-working people I have ever met, often putting in 15 hours a day in dire conditions.”

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