Sadly, the plight of farmworkers in this country remains grave. They earn, on average, just $10,000 per year, with no overtime, benefits, or holidays. To secure shelter and have enough money for food to eat, they often live with multiple families under one roof and combine incomes. Their children, some as young as ten, eight, and even six years old, must join them in the fields to help earn enough wages for the family to survive. Often, these are the only times farmworker kids have with their parents during the week.
To help farmworkers escape such abject poverty, Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs Executive Director Daniel Sheehan calls for action:
"As you gather with your loved ones this Thanksgiving, and perhaps bow your heads in prayer to give thanks for all that you have, please remember our nation's farmworkers, and take action to help organizations, like AFOP's many non-profit members, striving to better the farmworkers' lives through job training and other crucial supportive services. Give a farmworker a chance, and he or she will make the most of it. The record shows that's the case, year after year after year."
About AFOP: The Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) has been an advocate for migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States since 1971. The thread that binds the Association is the concept that training and education can provide a launching pad to a better and more stable life for the workers who plant, tend, and harvest the crops that Americans consume at their tables.
Contact
Kendra Moesle
***@afop.org
Photos: (Click photo to enlarge)
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