August 26, 2009
"The end of all education should surely be service to others." - Cesar E. Chavez
Do you have books you know you will never read again? Sort through those cluttered book cases and closets and donate the books to the SLA Book Drive. The books will be donated to the Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka, Florida to benefit the migrant farm workers and their children.
The Hope CommUnity Center, formerly known as The Office for Farmworker Ministry, is a community-based organization founded in 1971. The Ministry has worked continually to meet the needs of the ever-growing number of farmworker and immigrant families residing in Central Florida. Over the years, the Ministry has fostered the development of many self-help, community and worker organizations to meet basic human needs.
This year the Service Learning Academy has adopted immigration, migrant workers, and related environmental issues as the central theme for service learning projects. Partners include the Global Peace Film Festival, Rollins College, the University of Central Florida, the Hope CommUnity Center, Catholic Charities, the Farmworkers Association of Central Florida, the Health Department of Orange County, Mexican Consulate and other organizations who will help us to promote awareness on the need for comprehensive immigration reform and to address issues related to our Central Florida migrant farm workers.
We will partner with Rollins College students to investigate what happened to Lake Apopka, called a "dead" lake. Toxic pesticides from farmlands surrounding the lake have poisoned the water and killed fish and wildlife. Cries were raised calling for the restoration of the lake and prevention to save the impacted wildlife. But what about the farm workers who were exposed to the pesticides?
Last April during our Earth Day celebration we attended a movie made by Rollins College students that brought awareness to the plight of the Apopka farm workers. Two former farm workers attended the screening and related their tragic stories. They had worked in the fields since they were young children. Now their skin is scarred from pesticide-related disease and they suffer from chronic illnesses related to the exposure to the pesticides. They told us that former farm workers who toiled in those fields have died or are very sick. The service learning council decided to raise awareness on this issue and help these people who bring food to our tables.
This year service learning academy students will be meeting with and interviewing migrant farm workers. We are compiling their stories and publishing a book to bring awarenes to their issues, to promote the use of safe pesticides and chemicals, and to try to help get medical treatment for farm workers in need.
We will partner with Rollins College students to investigate what happened to Lake Apopka, called a "dead" lake. Toxic pesticides from farmlands surrounding the lake have poisoned the water and killed fish and wildlife. Cries were raised calling for the restoration of the lake and prevention to save the impacted wildlife. But what about the farm workers who were exposed to the pesticides?
Last April during our Earth Day celebration we attended a movie made by Rollins College students that brought awareness to the plight of the Apopka farm workers. Two former farm workers attended the screening and related their tragic stories. They had worked in the fields since they were young children. Now their skin is scarred from pesticide-related disease and they suffer from chronic illnesses related to the exposure to the pesticides. They told us that former farm workers who toiled in those fields have died or are very sick. The service learning council decided to raise awareness on this issue and help these people who bring food to our tables.
This year service learning academy students will be meeting with and interviewing migrant farm workers. We are compiling their stories and publishing a book to bring awarenes to their issues, to promote the use of safe pesticides and chemicals, and to try to help get medical treatment for farm workers in need.
We are also interviewing immigrants and publishing their stories. There is a lot of misinformation about why the newest immigrants have come to the United States and sometimes their valuable contributions to our community are ignored. Mr. Casas, a TCHS guidance counselor, came to the U.S. from Mexico. His story reflects the struggle of many of those who come to the U.S. in search of the American dream. Mr. Casas is helping us to partner with the Mexican Consulate in our projects and with the non-English speaking students.
Fourth period VPS students will be tutoring Ms. Timm's multi-cultural class students this year. These students recently moved to the United States and have low level English skills. Some speak no English. We will work to raise their reading, writing and speaking skills. They will join us in our service learning projects, helping us to glean the fields, meeting and interviewing the farm workers and immigrants, and working with the children of the migrant farm workers.
We will be reading several books and learning about the farm workers and immigrants: The Devil's Highway by Luis Aberto Urrera, Across a Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande, and The Human Cost of Food: Farmworkers' Lives, Labor and Advocacy by Charles Dillard. Thompson and Melinda Wiggins.
We will also be using the Cesar Chavez Foundation curriculum in our classes. We will sponsor a Cesar Chavez service learning project to mark the anniversary of the birth of this great American hero, in March 2010. Students will also conduct advocacy efforts to get Cesar Chavez's birthday recognized as a state holiday.
We will also be using the Cesar Chavez Foundation curriculum in our classes. We will sponsor a Cesar Chavez service learning project to mark the anniversary of the birth of this great American hero, in March 2010. Students will also conduct advocacy efforts to get Cesar Chavez's birthday recognized as a state holiday.
The academy students and teachers will host the 6th Annual District Service Learning Conference. This year the workshops will relate to issues affecting farm workers, immigrants and environmental and economic issues related to the use of pesticides and production of food. We are working to line up some exciting workshop presenters and speakers!
We will also be tutoring immigrants to help them to pass the U.S. citizenship test.
Many of us are immigrants! We come from Central and South American countries, Europe, Canada, Asian and Caribbean nations. We bring diversity and culture to TCHS and Orlando. We would also like to promote our cultural diversity and highlight the contributions of immigrants through service learning projects.
Right now we are writing a State Farm Youth Advisory Board grant to help fund our project. We would like to be able to expand on what we can do and give mini-grants to our district's service learning councils so that they can work with non-English speaking and limited English-speaking immigrants in their schools to help raise their English skills. We would like to publish our books with real publishers so we can spread the word and advocate for the immigrants and migrant farm workers and their families. We would like to expand out district conference to be two days and include notable speakers and presenters.
We invite you to work as a partner with us in this project!
