Here are pictures from the day:

Farmworker Institute interpreters and Melinda Wiggins of SAF

Lunch @ the Farmworker Institute

Everyone enjoyed the delicious food

Farmworker Institute T-Shirt

NC FIELD photo exhibit 2012

Click here to download

Click here to order free hard copies.

Farmworkers play a vital role in cultivating the food we eat everyday, and North Carolina has one of the largest farmworker populations in the nation. Even though 85% of our fruits and vegetables are harvested by hand, farmworkers remain largely invisible.

This colorful and easy-to-read fact sheet was designed for congregations and community groups. Contact us if you would like free hard copies.

Get the Facts

“It’s just ridiculous that we, the ones that are feeding the whole world, are the ones that [live in such poor conditions].”
—Wayne County Farmworker, North Carolina

Overview of Farm Work

The Farmworker Advocacy Network worked with Professor Bruce Orenstein's video and social change class at Duke University to create this documentary about the Harvest of Dignity Campaign.

The Farmworker Advocacy Network worked with Professor Bruce Orenstein's video and social change class at Duke University to create this documentary about the Harvest of Dignity Campaign.

Watch the entire original broadcast of one of the most celebrated documentaries of all time, 1960′s “Harvest of Shame,” in which Edward R. Murrow exposed the plight of America’s farm workers.

It's been 50 years since Edward R. Murrow's landmark documentary HARVEST OF SHAME that examined the lives of farmworkers. How much has changed since then? And how much remains the same?
Here is a look at the lives of farmworkers in North Carolina today.
Soon to be broadcast on public television.

Click here to download the curriculum in English

Click here to download the curriculum in Spanish

From the Introduction

“Jesus’ life and words are a challenge at the same time that they are Good News. They are a challenge to those of us who are poor and oppressed. By his life, he is calling us to give ourselves to others, to sacrifice for those who suffer, to share our lives with our brothers and sisters who are also oppressed. He is calling us to ‘hunger and thirst after justice’ in the same way that we hunger and thirst after food and water: that is, by putting our yearning into practice.”
—Cesar Chavez, Co-founder, United Farm Workers

Thank you for using the farmworker curriculum developed by the North Carolina Council of Churches Farmworker Ministry Committee and the National Farm Worker Ministry. The curriculum was written with the help of many individuals for churches to examine and reflect on farmworker issues in North Carolina in a biblical context. It is our hope that through the use of this curriculum, your congregation will lift up farmworkers and become a part of the North Carolina movement to improve the living and working conditions of those who harvest our crops.

Intended Use

The curriculum is intended for use with adult and high school worship groups, Sunday schools or Bible studies. There are seven class sessions, each approximately 45-60 minutes long, offered in the curriculum. The sessions focus on the following: Food: A Sacred Exchange; God Has No Borders; Labor in God’s Harvest; Health and Wholeness; Community and Culture; Family and Children; and Faith in Action on Behalf of Our Brothers and Sisters. We hope that your group will use all seven sessions; however the curriculum is designed so that a group can use Sessions 1 and 7 and as many in between as desired. Please note that Session 6 (Family and Children) may be appropriate for younger groups.

Curriculum Organization

Each session is organized into a Leader’s Instructions page, a Handout (to be copied and passed out to the participants) and a Learning Activity page, which can also be passed out to the participants unless otherwise instructed. All participants should also get a copy of the Farmworker Organizations page, the Resources page, and the Glossary, providing definitions of commonly used farmworker-related terms. These are found at the end of the curriculum.

Members of the Farmworker Ministry Committee may be available for leading sessions or for training groups on how to lead sessions. Contact the NC Council of Churches at (919) 828-6501 for inquiries about speakers, copies of the curriculum, or for more information.

This Bible Study is also available in Spanish here.

Monetary donations for farmworkers and their families affected by the recent tornados in North Carolina can be made online at the Harvest of Hope Foundation at www.harvestofhope.net (email director Phil Kellerman afterwards to direct funds to the “NC Migrant Fund”), or with a check mailed to:

Harvest of Hope Foundation, c/o Phil Kellerman
PO Box 358025
Gainesville, FL 32625
with “NC Migrant Fund” in the memo line.

There are reports from Johnston and surrounding counties of farmworkers who have lost their housing and important belongings, and many who have been seriously injured, including children.