wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Moderator plans 'day of mission' in Immokalee

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8694 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05174
April 1, 2005

Moderator plans 'day of mission' in Immokalee 

Event to involve Ufford-Chase, farmworkers, young Presbyterians

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - The Taco Bell boycott has ended, but the campaign for fair food
continues.

	That's why Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), will join Presbyterian youth and young
adults for a "day of mission" in Immokalee, FL, on April 10.

	Those attending "Moderator's Day" also will meet with members of the
Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a group that represents farmworkers who
pick the tomatoes used in Taco Bell products.

	The CIW, comprised mostly of Mexican, Guatemalan, and Haitian
farmworkers, organized the national consumer boycott of Taco Bell, which the
214th General Assembly of the PC(USA) endorsed in June 2002. 

     The nearly four-year-long boycott, which ended last month, was organized
to protest the low wages and poor working conditions of the farmworkers.

	Participants in the moderator's event will tour the Immokalee
community, visiting sites where pickers gather to seek work and learning
about the difficult conditions they face in the fields of Florida. 

	They also will tour homes of the low-wage workers, where as many as
12 workers cram into one trailer to pay exorbitant rent.

	"This is a unique opportunity for youth and young adults to integrate
their desire for justice while learning how the church has been working as a
partner with people who are resisting systemic exploitation every day," said
the Rev. Noelle Damico, the national coordinator for fair food for the
PC(USA), formerly the denomination's Taco Bell boycott coordinator. 
 
     The boycott ended successfully on March 8 with a historic agreement
between the CIW, Taco Bell, and Yum! Brands, Inc., the Louisville-based
parent company of the Mexican-style fast-food chain. 

	The agreement will affect more than 1,000 workers who harvest
tomatoes for Yum! suppliers.  

	Workers who now earn 40-45 cents for each 32-pound bucket of tomatoes
they harvest will soon make at least 72 cents per bucket - an increase of 60
to 80 percent. 

	The penny-per-pound raise will help lift some of the nation's
lowest-paid workers out of poverty.

	"I'm so excited about what it meant for those Presbyterians to stand
up and provide leadership (during the boycott)," Ufford-Chase said. "Also, I
have to say I'm humbled that the leadership of Yum! Brands chose to become
allies in this struggle for dignity with the workers."

	Damico said the daylong event will give participants an opportunity
to learn about the agreement that ended the boycott and to reflect with
Ufford-Chase and the CIW about "partnership, mission, and transformation."

	Moderator's Day is being sponsored by the presbyteries of Peace
River, Tampa Bay, Central Florida, and Tropical Florida, along with the
Office of the Moderator and the Presbyterian Church (USA) Hunger Program.

	Programming is being organized by an intergenerational team of
members from the presbyteries and Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr,
PA, which supported the boycott.

	The event will begin with worship and Communion. The service will be
conducted in Spanish, Creole and English with sermons by Ufford-Chase and
Gerardo Reyes Chavez of the CIW.

	Young people from the Florida presbyteries helping to plan the event
will join with workers as liturgists. Damico and the Rev. Adan Mariena, a
residence-in-ministry at Bryn Mawr church, will lead the service of
Communion.

	The rest of the day will be spent in dialogue with the CIW about
exploitative conditions in the fields, the history and success of the Taco
Bell boycott and "what it means to be in partnership together through Christ
to transform our world," Damico said. 

	A shared lunch of traditional Mexican food will provide the
opportunity for participants and workers to talk informally, Damico said. 

	After further reflection together in large and small groups, the day
will culminate in a liturgy of commissioning for mission. 

	For additional information about "Moderator's Day" contact Damico by
email: ndamico@ctr.pcusa.org or by phone: (631) 751-7076. To download a
complete schedule and registration form, log onto: www.pcusa.org/fairfood.

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