wfn.org | Florida's farm workers caught between two storms

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 10, 1999  News media contact: Joretta Purdue·(202)546-8722·Washington
10-32-71B{602}

By Michael Wacht*

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (UMNS) -- Last month's Hurricane Irene destroyed almost 20
percent of Florida's citrus crop and 90 percent of south Florida's winter
vegetable crop, according to state estimates.
	
Hurricane Floyd caused the worst flooding ever in eastern North Carolina
last September, and damage to the state's agriculture could exceed the $872
million record set by Hurricane Fran, according to news reports.
	
Caught between the storms are tens of thousands of migrant and seasonal farm
workers whose only livelihood has dried up in the midst of record-breaking
flooding.
	
"The farm workers go between here (south Florida) and North Carolina," said
Bill Rhan, the Florida Annual Conference's disaster response coordinator.
"They spent the money they've saved to travel up there. When they find
there's no product up there to pick ... they come home with what little
money they have left over and discover they don't have work in Florida."
	
The south Florida fields are flooded with up to 18 inches of rain from
Irene, so farmers can't harvest or plant for the next harvest. That means
many of the workers who came to south Florida have nothing to do, a
situation the Rev. David Beers said will last at least until the end of the
year.
	
"The crisis is with the farm workers -- migrant workers, temporary workers
-- who depend on their ability to pick crops," said Beers, disaster response
coordinator for the denomination's Miami District and pastor of Silver Palm
United Methodist Church in Homestead. "Many of the poorest people in Dade
County now have no income or food. Until the crops come in, there's not a
lot of work to do."
	
The first step in responding is assessing people's needs, Beers said, adding
that the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), American Red
Cross, and Catholic and Lutheran churches are helping people recover.
	
"There are lots of resources here," he said. "The goal of the United
Methodist Church is to fill the gaps where people's needs aren't being met."
	
The biggest need Rhan sees is getting food to people who are afraid to ask
for help from the government. "Most of the farm workers are hesitant to
apply to FEMA if they qualify at all," he said. "Many are here on work
permits from Latin America, and they don't want to talk to the government."
	
People who need help are receiving food vouchers from volunteers at Florida
City United Methodist Church in Homestead, with the help of Kim King-Torres,
a church and community worker with the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries who is working with Florida City, and the American Red Cross. On
the first day of operation, nearly 500 people showed up for vouchers.
	
"We don't ask about their status," Beers said. "We don't want to know if
they're legal or not. These are farm workers who are marginalized anyway.
They don't have anyplace else to go, and some of them ... are afraid of
being caught and deported."
	
Beers is working with the United Methodist Committee on Relief and United
Methodist Volunteers in Mission to get more food resources into the area.
	
"The Red Cross will be there through Thanksgiving," he said. "We'll have
this problem at least through November and December."
	
# # #

*Wacht is the assistant editor of the Florida Conference's edition of the
United Methodist Review. This story first appeared in that publication.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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