DONATE: Hurricane Irma Relief Fund for Immokalee and Southwest Florida Farmworker Communities

A caravan of CIW members and allies delivers desperately needed relief items — including food, water, and diapers — to Immokalee area labor camps following Hurricane Irma’s destructive rampage through the already impoverished farmworker community.

Donate today to new local fund for relief and recovery efforts in Southwest Florida’s farmworker communities in the wake of Hurricane Irma…

When Hurricane Irma ripped through Florida, farmworker families throughout the state moved into survival mode.  Those who could hurriedly packed suitcases with their most precious belongings and headed north, most with no particular destination, in search of a safe place out of the storm’s path.  Most, however, had no choice but to stay home, seeking the safest place to ride out the hurricane, be it their bathroom, a nearby church, or one of the many shelters opened by each Florida county.  Over one long night this past Sunday, Irma darkened millions of homes and businesses (affecting over half of the state’s population of 20 million people), caused billions of dollars in property damage, and took 26 lives in Florida as of this posting

Over the past several days, the Immokalee community – which, along with other already impoverished farmworker communities in Southwest Florida, took Irma’s hardest punch, delivered by the fierce winds and torrential rains of the hurricane eye wall’s northeast quadrant – has slowly emerged from survival mode and has begun to look ahead to a recovery and rebuilding process that will take months, if not years, to complete. 

A CIW relief caravan makes its rounds through the town’s dozens of labor camps and trailer parks earlier this week.

Fortunately, Southwest Florida farmworkers are not facing that daunting task alone.  The Hurricane Irma Relief Fund for Immokalee and Southwest Florida Farmworker Communities, organized by a local family foundation, has been established to support “Immokalee and other farmworker communities in Southwest Florida who are working to rebuild their livelihoods and communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.”  Funds collected will go to everything from addressing the immediate material needs of newly-homeless families to tackling the long-term needs of rebuilding devastated neighborhoods.

Here below is a brief message from the family foundation, and once again, the link to donate:

This fund is by and for Immokalee and other farmworker communities in Southwest Florida who are working to rebuild their livelihoods and communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

The damage done by the hurricane has caused great hardship for farmworker families.  Many of the homes workers rent have been destroyed and their clothing and other possessions ruined. Days after, there is still no power, no gas, no safe water and a severe shortage of food, clothing, and medicine. Most farmworkers have not been able to work since evacuation was ordered in their areas, and many businesses that owe paychecks are still closed. Many crops have been ruined, and work is scarce.

Needless to say, most farmworker families that live hand to mouth even in good times are now without the necessary resources to lead dignified lives.

Every dollar donated to this trusted channel will provide basic necessities for the people who harvest the food we eat.

Please share the fundraising effort widely with your networks!