Logan teacher Ramon Camacho packed up his truck March 30 to take donated goods to the drop off site for the farm workers who were affected by this winter's freeze that killed fruit trees and other agricultural crops and put many workers out jobs.
Camacho had a truck-load of donations to deliver because he attended a Community Empowerment Service Meeting last month during which Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Cesar Chavez's daughter, spoke of the plight of the workers. Rodriguez asked everyone at the meeting if they could help out the freeze victims. Over 28,000 jobs were lost; it was a crisis in many workers' lives.
For more information, and to make donations, visit the United Farm Workers website, www.ufw.org.
For the week of March 30, Camacho accepted donations of non-perishable items and toiletries. Mireya Casarez, principal of Cesar Chavez Middle school, also collected donations.
Unfortunately, the student body of Logan really did not find out about this, through a Logan LIve announcement, until the day before the drop-off, and donations therefore were less than expected.
Camacho said "We could have done better, but the timing was really bad. I was the only one who sent out the e-mails to the teachers."
Camacho said, "It was not Logan Live's fault that they did this segment the day before. They actually tried to squezze me in last minute."
The donations filled about two truckloads of food donated by the Logan community, and an about $400.
MECHA, an academic organization, also pitched in and other teachers helped by collecting doantions.
"It takes a lot of organizing" said Camacho, "but for short notice, it still was impressive. We wanted to do this to show our support, and for Cesar Chavez. His birthday is on March 31. That is why we pushed for everything by March 30. But, I do find it interesting that we do not have the day off for Cesar Chavez's Birthday. He started here in this area, and we have a school named after him. I think it would be good for students to learn about him."
If you would like to donate and help the freeze victims, you can go to USW.org website.
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