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OGDEN -- If you're ready to empty the closet of old clothes, or have some food items to donate, you'll have an opportunity to help some people who will really need it.
About 19,000 migrant workers work on Utah farms annually often earning less than $7,500 a year. -The Utah Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Coalition
A group of agencies in Utah has organized a drive to help thousands of farm workers who are in Utah picking crops.
The Utah Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker Coalition has been operating for years. It involves various agencies, businesses and volunteers who provide services for low-income farm laborers who travel to Utah each year. Right now, workers are here picking cherries.
According to Corrie Jensen-Hout, program manager for the Utah's farm worker coalition, "Some are permanent, but most of them are either seasonal or migrant workers. Migrant workers come in and work for a short period of time and then move to another place."
Statistics show that approximately 19,000 people travel to Utah each year to help harvest everything from cherries, peaches and apricots. When they're done here, they're off to another state, and then another after that. It's a hard life.
"The majority of migrant and seasonal farm workers who work in the state of Utah average less than $7,500 a year, which means they're pretty much the poorest of the working poor," Jensen-Hout says.
To help these people out, the farm worker coalition is requesting donations of jeans, long-sleeve shirts for men and women, socks, insect repellent and nonperishable food items.
"We have a lot of folks out sleeping in the orchards, and they don't even have a blanket. So, we need to make sure everyone has blankets, everybody has the appropriate clothes to wear; because when you're working outside with the pesticides, even the basic residue can get on your skin and you can end up getting sick," Jensen-Hout says.
Drop off locations:
- Saturday, July 10 1- 3 p.m.
- Centro Civico Mexicano
- 155 S. 600 West, Salt Lake City
- Monday, July 12 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Centro Hispano
- 817 S. Freedom Boulevard, Provo
- Mondays through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Futures Through Training
- 1140 E. 36th Street, Suite 150, Ogden
The farm worker coalition has noticed a drop-off in calls from some of the workers who need assistance, due in part because of concerns on immigration reform.
"Our people are scared. They've been scared for a couple of years because so many of them do have someone in the family who's undocumented, and so they're afraid that if they walk into a food bank to get food for the family for the day, they could get into trouble," Jensen-Hout says.
He adds, "Some of the other agencies in the coalition have expressed a concern because they went from having many phone calls, like in the health program, and then suddenly dropping off, and no one is even calling about basic emergencies that we know are happening."
There are several times and locations scheduled for Utahns to drop off items (see box to the right). The donated items will then be taken to the various farms and distributed to the workers.
E-mail: kmccord@ksl.com
