Hello friends and family!

Asking for money isn't easy for anyone, and I feel like I'm particularly deficient in this way, but please read on. 

I'm going to be running a brief online fundraising campaign for Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF), with whom I've volunteered quite a bit since moving to Durham and for whom I have enormous respect. While this is a form letter, I'm writing it from my heart so I hope you read it with an open mind. I'll talk a bit about my recent career before my current job as well to set the stage as to why I think you'd be interested in helping to support SAF.

As you may know, I spent about 4 years in the most amazing job one could have just before moving here. I worked with an organization called Finger Lakes Migrant Health. As a migrating doctor for migrant farmworkers, I drove around central New York State (near Ithaca), sometimes for 150+ miles a day visiting peoples old farm houses and trailers. Much of the workers lived in places you wouldn't want to see: disrepair, limited AC & heat, isolated, infested with rats and packed with flies (I only wish I were exaggerating). Sometimes folks were more than an hour away from any restaurants or stores, generally without transportation. They would work 6 or 7 days a week, 12 hours a day or night, their kids worked in the fields (wait, I thought there were child labor laws? More loopholes than you'd believe, actually) and if they got injured, they lost pay. I actually feel a bit guilty saying I had a wonderful job compared to what they did. But my job really was cool, partly because I was helping this population in need.

My job was to go to their houses and do medical exams and preventative health. It was the perfect use of my medical training and Spanish language skills. Some days I counseled for depression. Others, I warned about risks of and treated STDs. I treated back pain. Travel was tough for these folks: I saw a desert cactus spine inpaled in an eye, treated diarrhea from someone drinking a horse trough, treated burns on the bottom of feet from crossing the Arizona desert on foot (they burn through more than one pair of shoes). I also treated conditions from birth (congenital) that had never been evaluated. Once I met a 17 year old boy who was coughing up blood. I thought it was tuberculosis, but his lung sounds were obscured by the loudest murmur I've heard. Turned out to be a heart condition called coarctation of the aorta which was nearly fatal. I made some calls and got his heart surgically repaired that week. I counseled on family planning. I lanced and drained boils and abscesses. I gave vaccines. I treated severe anemia, intestinal parasites, foot fungus, cold and heat exposure. I could go on. I continue to do medical work with farmworkers on a volunteer basis away from my job at the University of North Carolina where I treat patients in the hospital and teach medical students and residents.

The amazing thing is that these people are all providing us our relatively inexpensive food, often right near our communities. It is a silent population, underground, invisible. However you feel about our current immigration policy (or lack thereof), these people are workng hard, have been driven from their homes due to price manipulation of corn markets from subsidized U.S. corn exports, allowed to cross the border to work in the U.S. and then treated terribly as scapegoats for our economic woes while they harvest the majority of our food. It is a gross injustice and nobody wants to fix the problem- big businesses (farms) like the cheap labor, we like cheap food, politicians want to appear like they are protecting "U.S. jobs" and none of us have an idea about how hard this work is or want to do the work. They do the most dangerous job in the country (morbidity and mortality-wise), get paid poorly and are blamed for all of our problems. I come from a family of immigrants, all of whom fled for a better life from political or economic woes in their home country. I certainly didn't get to where I am without the sacrifices of generations before me and the support of public services. Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now.

So, what does this have to do with Student Action with Farmworkers? When I was working with Finger Lakes Migrant Health, I read an amazing book called the The Human Cost of Food and met folks at a national farmworker conference from SAF. I learned that they were working directly with farmworkers through energetic, bright students who go into the fields for 3-6 months to live with farmworkers, learn about their lives, the politics, the daily struggle, etc. They go to do service, not as charity, but to get close to understanding their lives, expose injustices and work to change the system with them through advocacy. I've met many of these former interns and their lives are transformed (for the better). They do health work, education, advocacy, film documentaries, write poems and articles, speak to peers, etc. Some follow this by going to medical school, public health school, become teachers, social workers, lawyers, activists, etc. After moving to Durham, NC, which happens to be where SAF is headquartered, I became involved in fundraising to help the organization, as I think they do such an amazing job. I can't get back out there in the field to do this work as much anymore, but the young folks that are getting "into the fields" are amazing, energetic and an important part of our future. These are real leaders being trained to not only care but to act, and this is priceless in one's career. This work doesn't just support the current system, but educates all about how we can change it, while at the same time supporting the folks living the struggle every day.

My personal goal is to raise $2000 as part of the Grassroots Fundraising Campaign. I'm starting by putting in $250 myself and I'd love it if you all donate as well. You'll see a thermometer on my fundraising page. Everything is tax deductible so please be generous!

I really appreciate your support. Thanks for making it through my long request. Below I'll give you links to donate now. Just as a warning, I may continue to hound you. My campaign begins now and ends this Friday. I am excited to support SAF and I need your support to make this campaign successful.

Let me know if you have any questions

Sincerely,

Jonathan

SAF's grassroots fundraising goal is to raise $23,000 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

Check out our online fundraisers' campaign pages and donate here!

Alexa Dilworth

Amanda Soltes

Andrea Kells

Jonathan Kirsch

Nayely Perez Huerta

Patrick Stawski & Gus Curran

Quirina Vallejos

Ryan Nilsen

Sandy Preiss

Victor Canales Gamino