Hunger Ravages Migrant Farm Families in the U.S.
The Juan Pablo Reyes family lives in New Mexico but their story echoes that of migrant farmworkers in the deep South and across the U.S. Juan, like every Reyes family member over the age of 12, works long hours in the onion fields. The work is hot, difficult and dangerous. Chronic threats include scorpions, venomous snakes and rodents. Take a moment to think about your daughter or son or niece or nephew working 10 or 12 hours daily in those extreme conditions.
The Reyes children aren’t able to go to afternoon movies with their friends or participate in after school sports because, when they are not in school, they are working as farm labor. More importantly, the family goes hungry much of the time because there are no food pantries nearby. The Reyes family makes less than minimum wage, paid by the basket of onions they pick.
Like my family and yours, the Reyes family values education and sets goals for college for their children. A photo of Juan’s high school graduation cap is evidence of that cherished American dream. Juan is starting college and working in the fields to pay for classes. How tragic is it that those who work in dangerous conditions to put food on our tables don’t have enough food for their own children?
“In the richest nation on earth, they live at the edge of hunger,” is a headline from a story featured in the New York Times Magazine published in September 2020. Journalist, Brenda Ann Kenneally, took a road trip across the U.S. to capture photos and relate first hand stories of families facing chronic food-insecurity in America. Families in our own communities are silently suffering as they battle the same issues these families face.
One in eight American households lacks enough food and an estimated 14 million American children need immediatefood assistance. Families are piecing together assistance from food banks and charity services but it still isn’t nearly enough.
Black and Hispanic families are almost twice as likely to face chronic food insufficiency as white families. While the Reyes family may not be your neighbors, the same plight and same issues impact every rural and farming community. Those of us who haven’t faced an empty refrigerator or a hungry crying child oftentimes believe that there must be help “out there” or that the parents should get a job. If you are tempted to believe that, please understand that you have been woefully misled. According to Feeding America, the Latino community is most likely to have employment and still suffer food insufficiency. Those living in rural areas are most likely to struggle with food insufficiency as well. For those without transportation, access is nearly impossible. For others, they must work during hours of operation for most food pantries. For others still, community-based charity supported food pantries rely on donations and the COVID pandemic has crippled those well- intended efforts.
There is hope, though, and that hope is in the one reading this story. You. Right now, you can make two powerful decisions to help. The first thing that you can do is share this message, using #FeedingAmerica. Did you know that 14 million children in America, a first-world nation, are in need of urgent food assistance? Now you do. Did you know that even though Hispanic families are working long hours in the fields, insuring our food supply, that they and their children are going hungry at twice the rate of white families? Now you do. Did you know that Feeding Americais a trusted organization that will funnel your donations to communities and put food on the tables of those in need? Now you know. The second action that you can take right now is to make a monetary donation to Feeding America here: DONATE NOW It’s a gut punch to realize that we have Americans in desperate need of food assistance. This is our national portrait of shame. Now you know. The antidote to apathy is action. □
___________________________________________________________________
Photo by Brenda Ann Kenneally, NYTimes.com
