Dear Friends and Family: Let's celebrate twenty years of STUDENT ACTION WITH FARMWORKERS and this year's FARMWORKER AWARENESS CAMPAIGN together! 

I appreciate all the support for SAF! 

So much thanks to donors Anonymous x 2, ANONYMOUS FRIEND (you know who you are, and so do I!), Susan Barnett, Lisa Schneider Bouland (Gator love), Greg Britz, Amy Ruth Buchanan, Rob Dilworth (a good bro), Alan DuBois, Cameron DuBois, George Alan DuBois Sr., Emily Feidelson and Andy Riddle, Maggie Fost (Fost!), Isabel Geffner, Melinda Greene and family, Tania Hannan, Wendy Hower, Leigh Johnson and family, Renee Leverty (first donor!), Lynn McKnight (SAF star), Joel Mora (Gator love x 2), Ted Mott, Duncan Murrell, Anne O'Brien (WSHS, '81), Ida Phillips, Scott Palmer (Gator love x 3), Tom Rankin (way to support SAF, again!), Courtney Repeat-Reid-Eaton, Ilana Saraf and James Tulsky, Adria Suarez (Gator love x 4), Wells Tower, Patience Vanderbush, Claire Viadro, Cherie Westmoreland, David Wong, Deborah Wong (Go Wongs!) for the teamwork!

THERE'S STILL TIME TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE:

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I was never much of a cook (sorry, Cameron and Alex),

but I've always loved to eat (you know I do). But now I've discovered a real love of cooking (life is long and strange, this thing came on suddenly), and I care even more, if that's possible, about where the food I make and eat comes from—where and how it is grown, who picks it and under what conditions.

I try to stay up with farmworker issues, from field to legislature, and Student Action with Farmworkers helps me to do that. I am proud of my, and the Center for Documentary Studies', long association with SAF, which is celebrating twenty years of doing their important work this year. (Congratulations, SAF peeps!) 

Last year sometime, I wasn't feeling so hot and my old and dear friend Deb Wong brought me some soup. I asked her where she found the recipe, and she said the same place she gets all of her recipes--from Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen.

I then started trying a lot of Deb and Deb's recipes, and one of my favorites was this one for Swiss chard and sweet potato gratin. (Deb Perelman isn't paying me, I promise. Deb Wong either. Much.) And then there's another Deb, Deb Kaneb--she's really inspired me for the last twenty-five years--cookingwise and otherwise. And my sister Leigh Johnson--same goes for her. And Emily Feidelson. And Courtney Reid-Eaton (the okra alone). And my mom (though that relationship goes back a bit further).

What a luxury it is to simply tell you this story. I buy my sweet potatoes, I make my dish (food pix are by Deb Perelman, not me--my dish looked "almost" as good).

But what about the workers who picked the sweet potatoes? As you probably already know, North Carolina is the top producer of sweet potatoes in the United States (36,000 acres worth). The sweet potato is our state vegetable. There's a state sweet potato festival. 

When I look at SAF's website, I learn that "a farmworker needs to pick and haul 125 buckets of sweet potatoes (two tons) to make $50." Two tons! And I find out that there are 22,500 workers in N.C. helping the state to earn $168 million in revenue--and a breakdown of where my food dollar goes: 71 percent to corporate food processors, 23 cents to farmers, 6 cents to farmworkers.

As César Chávez said, It is ironic that those who till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables, and other foods that fill [our] tables with abundance have nothing left for themselves.

Help me to help SAF this holiday season, aka the Season of Giving. Because it helps everyone. 

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SAF's grassroots fundraising goal is to raise $20,000 through online fundraising and house parties!

SAF uses money raised from individuals to:

• conduct outreach to students and farmworkers,
• provide training, stipends, and scholarships for our interns, students organizers, and youth,
• share documentaries and presentations with the general public, and
• provide a living wage and full benefits to our staff

Thanks to those that have already donated this year through our 20-year anniversary sponsorships. We hope that you will consider giving again to help sustain our work for the next 20 years.

Alexa Dilworth

Andrea Kells

Carolyn Corrie

Cris Rivera

Evan Hughes & Leanne Simon

Irene Godinez

Irving Zavaleta

Lyndsey Beutin

Mercedes Hernandez-Pelletier

Patrick Stawski

Ronald Garcia Fogarty