Migrant Farmers Harvest Our Fields, But Struggle to Have Enough to Feed Their Families- A Paradox Worth Changing
Posted by Katherine Van Steenburgh on Friday, December 17, 2010
Last Thursday, I was one of forty Share Our Strength staff, partners, and supporters who drove out of the West Palm Beach Hilton Hotel and traveled 40 miles west on Southern Blvd towards the Glades- an area of Palm Beach County known for football, sugar cane, and it’s economic and social challenges. Our group was driving out to Belle Glade and Pahokee to meet with community leaders and Share Our Strength partners to learn more about how we can help end child hood hunger in this part of Florida.
If you’ve ever driven this route you know that after about 15 miles, you leave behind the beach and buildings of Palm Beach and are transported to a completely different world- different in both landscape and culture. As I looked out of the bus window, rich, thick, dark, solid spanned as far as I could see in both directions. Most of the fields were filled with towers of sugar cane with stalks over 10 feet high. Having lived in a big city most of my life, it is easy to forget the power of the soil and the earth to grow what we need and provide our food, our sustenance. It was not possible to lose sight of this truth on State Road 80.
Throughout the day, we visited four community organizations and heard from at least fifteen community experts. Each leader was inspiring and taught our group more about the challenges the in the Glades. Because we were surrounded by fertile rich farmland for most of the day, the second site we visited, The Redlands Christian Migrant Association’s New Hope Child Development Center, left a deep impression in my mind and heart.
The Redlands Christian Migrant Association’s New Hope Child Development Center serves the migrant farming community of Pahokee and Belle Glade by providing child development care for the children of migrant farmers. The Director, Faith Green, a former migrant famer herself and a local hero, told us the story of RCMA’s founder, Wendell Rollason. In 1945, after serving in the U.S. Navy, Rollason moved to Florida and worked at the Miami International Airport. He witnessed many families moving from other countries to Florida with the hope of work, housing, and a better life. Faith said that Rollason’s vision for RCMA came when he watched a migrant famer walk to work, to the field, carrying his young son on his back. He realized that many fathers and mothers had to carry their young children all day as they worked in the fields to support their family. Rollason knew there must be a better way, so he set out to found a child care center for migrant farmers in Florida.
It seemed that fighting for these families and children was what Rollason was made to do. He is quoted as saying “It’s no big deal that we keep the children safe, no big deal that we feed them nutritious food. That’s obvious. That’s our obligation.” Since its founding RCMA has served the families and children of migrant workers throughout South Florida by providing quality childcare and services- including giving the children meals and snacks every day. Faith Green runs the center we visited in Pahokee and is passionate about caring for this community. She shared her personal story of life as a migrant farmer and the importance of childcare services for this community with our team.
It is a sobering truth that in our land of plenty, many children are at risk of hunger. As we were surrounded by some of the most fertile farm land in the country that produces much of our nation’s sugar, we heard from leaders and community experts who see hunger every day. There are many families who are picking and harvesting the food that feeds our nation and goes on our tables, but yet those same people don’t have enough means to feed their families. As Rollason said, it is our obligation to change this. Share Our Strength and our partners are committed to working for this end.
Check back for more stories from the sites we visited during this day in Palm Beach County.
December 17, 2010 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: florida, Hinges of Hope
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