"Over the next 30 minutes, Alberto told me several stories of injuries his coworkers or he had suffered, from a blueberry bush snag hitting someone's eyeball and damaging it; to another getting poison ivy all over his body and face, which left him in bed out of work for over a month; to a more recent gash that one of his coworkers received from a piece of farm equipment.

In all of these cases, the farm owner left them without pay for their time without work. Which, in the state of New Jersey, is illegal if a worker's employment exceeds six months with the company. After six months of employment, any employee can begin to use their accumulated sick time. Farmworkers are excluded from many worker protections (such as overtime), but they do qualify for sick pay - in the State of New Jersey.

This legal right has increased significance during the COVID-19 pandemic with mounting cases of more contagious virus variants. On another occasion, Alberto told me, the employer here told a worker that if he got sick with COVID, he would fire him. This story was not unique. Whether a boss, a supervisor, or no one at all threatens that workers won't get paid or will be fired for contracting COVID, many undocumented farmworkers hold that fear," Kendra Prat, CATA's Farmworker Organizer.

"In recent weeks, the topic of immigration has been prevalent in our national dialogue. However, I’ve felt a lot of whiplash – trying to decipher what is the policy that the Biden administration wants to promote. Let’s start out with the removal of Haitian migrants on the U.S. – Mexico border and the deportation of more than 5,000 Haitians at the end of September.

The images of immigration entering the encampments under the bridge in Del Rio, Texas – mounted on horseback – enraged me and made me temporarily wonder if we weren’t still under the Trump Administration, but no – here we are in supposedly a new era. Maybe some of you, like myself, have seen videos or journalistic coverage of the horrific trip north undertaken by Haitian migrants (and migrants from other countries) – crossing the Darien Gap – a jungle without roads or pathways, which is the only form to cross from Colombia to Panama to continue north. 
 
I’ve been thinking of the lives of these immigrant families – many of whom left Haiti after the devastating earthquake of 2010 when more than 200,000 Haitians were killed, and more than 1.5 million were made homeless by natural disaster.

Many Haitian immigrants have lived for years in South America, facing increasingly anti-immigrant policies and discrimination. They hope to settle in the United States to join a large Haitian community and to build a better life for themselves and their families – like most immigrants," Jessica Culley, CATA's
General Coordinator.

Your donations will help us grow our community garden next season, provide healthy and affordable fresh produce to our community members, and educate a new generation of food justice activists. This year we need to raise $1,500. We appreciate any help you can provide. 

CATA’s Organic Community Garden in Bridgeton, NJ, thrived during the pandemic, bringing a source of fresh produce to the immigrant community at a time when fresh food was scarce for some families. Unfortunately, this pandemic has taught us our agricultural system is not reliable in feeding our people. The immigrant community we serve was affected tremendously and disproportionally. Yet, despite the many challenges we faced, we harvested almost 500 lbs. of produce in over 20 different varieties. 

We also initiated a weekly market day and donated a lot of products to local organizations. Our efforts were recognized by the City of Bridgeton, NJ, by providing us with a designated spot at Downtown Bridgeton to host our weekly market once per month. Also, we harvested nine new Food Justice Activists through our new Youth Internship. They learned about issues affecting our current food system and gardening techniques. Additionally, they strengthened some of their soft skills by managing the market day and doing outreach to the community.

Your support will enable us to continue our struggle to provide food from our community garden to the community we serve, educate future Food Justice Activists, and expand our Food Justice work in South Jersey. If you'd like more information on how you can be involved, please reach out to Kathia Ramirez, our Food Justice Program Coordinator at kramirez@cata-farmworkers.org or visit https://www.cata-farmworkers.org/food-justice