Getting help from donations??? $1.75 million doesn't sound like donations to me!!!! And this is only the beginning!



http://www.vidaenelvalle.com/news/en...13923494c.html

UFW steps in to help farmworkers who lost their jobs

By JUAN ESPARZA LOERA / Vida en el Valle
(Published Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 02:51PM)

PORTERVILLE — Miguel Lemos, a 60-year-old farmworker who has always managed to keep busy working ever since he moved to the San Joaquín Valley in 1980, is seriously thinking of moving somewhere else.

"This is worse. Last time, I didn't lose much work. Today, it is much more critical," said Lemos as he carried a box of groceries last Saturday at a food giveaway sponsored by the United Farm Workers Foundation. He was referring to two previous freezes that also left many without jobs to pay for food, rent and utilities.

"I've been without work for two months now," said Lemos, who was among almost 1,000 farmworkers and family members who showed up for the food giveaway during a constant drizzle. "I'll have to see how things turn out because it's difficult to pay rent when you have no job."

Lemos figures that he'll take care of unfinished business in the area and then head for Indio where he's heard there is plenty of work.

"We'll probably ask for a loan and take care of some things," said Lemos, whose family includes his wife and three children. "I've heard that in Indio there is plenty of work in the fields and that there was no disaster there."

One major obstacle Lemos — and others like him — faces is that he is undocumented. Therefore, he can't qualify for unemployment and some types of public assistance.

That is where the UFW Foundation has stepped in.

"We don't check for their documents," said UFW President Arturo S. Rodríguez as he handed boxes of groceries last Saturday. "They are all workers. They come here to do the work no one else does."

Rodríguez said the estimated 12,500 to 20,000 workers who lost their jobs to the freeze should be able to find assistance.

"No one should be going hungry. No one should be evicted from their homes because they can't make payments," said Rodríguez, who attended public forums last Wednesday in Porterville and last Thursday in Bakersfield to listen to people left unemployed by the freeze.

He encouraged farmworkers to call (661) 725-9730 for assistance.

The real impact of the freeze, which citrus industry officials believe will result in a $1 billion loss, won't be known for several weeks, said Rodríguez. In the meantime, community organizations have to work to help those while state and federal help arrives.

"This is just the beginning," said Rodríguez about last Saturday's food distribution made possible by a $30,000 donation by the Los Ángeles County Federation of Labor that helped pay for 52 tons of food. "We know this is a long-term issue, that workers will be out of work for several months."

Sonia De La Cruz is worried about making the $250 monthly payment when her husband has been out of work for a month.

"It's been a bit difficult because sometimes there's no food," said De La Cruz, who doesn't work because she has two young daughters, ages 3 years and 9 months, to care for. "There's nothing, and I have to pay bills for electricity and water. We don't have the money for those payments."

Lorenzo López has lived in Porterville since 1992, and he would prefer to get back to work in the packinghouses as soon as possible. His wife, Verónica, works there too. Both have been out of work for a month.

Asked what message he would like to give elected officials, López said, "Well, that they do something for us because we are a bit desperate. And, we need to work to stay alive."

A ray of hope arrived last Friday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized $1.75 million in emergency fudning to help freeze victims in Tulare, Fresno, Kern, Riverside and Ventura counties. The money will go to La Cooperativa to help people make rent, mortgage and utility payments for February and March.

"Until (President Bush) signs the comprehensive federal aid package pushed by several members of California's Congressional delegation, we need to do everything we can at the state level to provide assistance to all those impacted by the freeze," said Schwarzenegger in a written statement.

The governor has opened 20 one-stop centers to provide services, programs and referrals to people affected by the freeze. He has also waved the one-week waiting period from when people are laid off to when they can file for unemployment benefits.

In other news:

Congressmen Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, introduced an ag disaster bill that was also introduced in the Senate by Sen. Barbara Boxer last Thursday.

"The January freeze has endangered the livelihoods of farmers and farmworkers in the Valley and throughout the state," said Costa.

The bill will provide as much as $1.7 billion in emergency assistance to agricultural producers, manufacturers and workers in 22 counties in California. Low-income and seasonal farmworkers would be eligible for food coupons and temporary help with mortage and rent payments.

Last Wednesday, state Sen. Dean Flórez, D-Shafter, asked the governor to help displaced workers by making migrant housing available to them and to place a one-year moratorium on evictions due to documentation requirements at state-run migrant housing sites.

"With very little prospects for work, unemployed field workers are now facing the real possibility of losing their shelter as rental fees are quickly coming due at the end of the month," Flórez wrote in a letter to the governor.

Proyecto Esperanza/Project Hope, a fundraiser organized last Friday by KFTV Channel 21 Univisión, netted more than $9,000 in cash donations in addition to food and clothing.

The Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce made a $2,000 donation to the Community Food Bank for freeze relief following a 3-day drive.