Farmworkers Self-Help, Inc.

Early estimates from Florida show 10 consecutive nights of freezes destroyed nearly a third of the state’s winter fruit and vegetable production and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. Harvesting remained stopped in many areas as growers wait for warmer weather to see what they can salvage. The severe cold struck all central and south Florida’s growing regions, from Plant City’s strawberries to vegetables in Immokalee and Naples in southwest Florida to Belle Glade in West Palm Beach County, to Homestead and areas along the East Coast.

Though damage estimates aren’t fully known yet, severe cold weather has harmed south Florida vegetable production and is sending vegetables prices skyrocketing — and the worst is yet to come. Growers and shippers were assessing damages caused by freezing weather that struck the Sunshine State early in the week of January 4th.

Immigrant workers from indigenous communities who are working in low-wage jobs are often stigmatized for their origins, their status, and their poverty. For them, achieving the American Dream means overcoming the historic biases of contemporary economic, cultural, social, and political systems. The Dream Fields of Florida explores the limits of accessibility to the American Dream for Mexican-American farmworkers.

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In late July, Teen Dream Team, the Rez House kids and a special group of dear friends from the Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Savannah, Georgia came together to give My Other House a makeover inside and out. Weeds were pulled and walls were painted with a Mexican flair. Why would we do so much to a building that we do not yet own? Because we have faith!

On the weekend of September 6, 2008, 37 people from Farmworkers Self-Help here in Dade City took a bus to Birmingham to participate in the Marguerite Casey Foundation's Equal Voice for America's Families campaign. Planning for this trip began nearly a year ago when Margarita Romo attended the Casey Foundation's Annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

Recently one of the women in our community came to us in desperation. Her name is Maria Vega and the Florida Department of Children and Families has taken her children from her. Sadly, she has come to us at the end of this story and not sooner when we may have been able to do more for her. She says that she was misrepresented by her original legal council and that translation services were not provided for her throughout this ordeal.

Farmworkers Self-Help joined the Farmworker Association of Florida and Florida ACORN in kicking off the Equal Voice for America's Families Campaign in Florida. The campaign is a national effort by the Marguerite Casey Foundation. The Equal Voice for America’s Families campaign is bringing together low-wage working families from across the country to develop an agenda that voices issues that concern families.