I need your help in fundraising $1,000 in 5 days to support the incredible work Student Action with Farmwokers (SAF) does to improve the conditions of farmworkers and farmworker youth.  Please donate today! 

Besides the admiration I feel for the work SAF does, and besides being a proud supporter and serve on SAF's Board of Directors, my commitment to farmworker justice emerges from my family’s history, and here is why:

I come from corn, sorghum, barley, black soil, sun, and water. I come from milpas, mesquites and jacarandas. I come from rainy days and días de sequia.  I am the granddaughter, daughter and sister of transnational farmworkers. My family’s migration is the aftermath of national and international policies. 

My grandfather, Ambrosio, came to el Norte in 1943 under the Bracero Program. He stopped farming his own land and left his family with the hopes of providing for them. As a Bracero he was seen and treated, not as a human, but as a production machine. In the fields of California, my grandfather had to give up his rights, his dignity and his health. More than 50 years later, farmworkers are still treated and seen as production machines, they continue to live in inhumane conditions, and they continue to be forced to give up their families, their land, their rights, their dignity, their health and their humanity.

My father continued to work my grandfather’s land in Guanajuato and in the early 1990’s, under the presidency of Salinas de Gortari, my father and thousands of other farmers fell into the trap of a program that was supposed to aid farmers in the production of their crops. As a result of this program, my father and thousands of other farmers became, without knowing it, endlessly indebted to the bank. A few years later when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed, it became even more impossible to continue to make our ends meet as my father had to sell his crops for very cheap, or at times, he was not even able to sell them at all. For more than 10 years, everything that our land produced went to the pay the debt with the bank, which increased every year. After those 10 years, our debt was "forgiven" (as if we had not given them all we had and all we were), but NAFTA did not show any mercy. As a result of this economic crisis, my brothers, and eventually all my family, had to migrate to the US. 

My brothers had to come to the US at a young age to help our family. They left their juventud in the fields of California where they picked almonds and peaches.  They are the survivors of labor exploitation, discrimination, oppression, and forced migration. 20 years later, farmworkers, from California to North Carolina, young and older, continue to endure exploitation, discrimination and oppression in order to take care of their families and ours. We feed from their strength, their exhaustion, their loneliness and their exploitation in the form of tomatoes, apples, oranges, almonds, carrots, onions, potatoes, lettuces. 

The road to farmworker justice is long and strenuous, but there is something each of us can do. I hope my reflection encourages you to make a contribution today in honor of the work SAF does with farmworkers and migrant youth, in honor of my family’s struggle and in honor of the hands that continue to pick up our fruits and vegetables. 

In order to achieve my goal of fundraising $1,000 in the next 5 days I need:

• 10 people to donate $25

• 5 people do donate $50

• 3 people to donate $100

• 1 person to donate $200

All contributions to SAF are Tax-deductible! SAF's Identification number for this purpose is 56-1789014.

Thank you so much for your support!

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