The Editor:
As we begin the holiday season celebrating our blessings of abundance, it is easy to forget that many individuals and families in our community struggle daily to simply put food on the table.
While most of the world stopped, our mission did not pause. Like everyone, we have been faced with ever changing obstacles through a succession of crisis as a result of a pandemic that won’t go away.
We have never faced a greater challenge than feeding increasing numbers of people for longer periods of time as they face illness, and inflated prices for food, housing, fuel and medicine; they are seniors, children, and adults who are employed, under-employed, unemployed and
homeless.
We do our very best to carry families and individuals through one of the most difficult times in memory and, without doubt, none of what we have faced and overcome would have been possible without the unwavering support of our community. We are so very grateful to everyone who has offered us support. You have been our lifeline through these difficult times.
So now, we must ask for your help once again. An anonymous benefactor has once again offered us $30,000, if that amount is matched by community donations through our Matching Funds Campaign from now until December 20, 2021. These funds are vital for us to continue to offer milk and eggs next year to families who are in need.
We realize that these are difficult times for everyone and it pains us to have to ask for your help once again. We are all facing new health, economic and supply chain challenges as we crawl back from the outcome of the pandemic. This community has never wavered in support of our mission to offer hungry individuals and families food for today and hope for tomorrow, and we are so very grateful for each of you.
If you can help us meet this goal, thank you. If you are struggling to feed your family, please come to us. We are here for you.
Wishing you all a blessed holiday season, and thank you for caring.
Sally Church
Blaine Food Bank operations manager
Blaine
The Editor:
We should give thanks to farmworkers every time we eat a meal. If it weren’t for their labor and skills, our plates would be empty. They deserve our support to ensure that their needs and fundamental human rights are met.
Heat stress is a frequent risk to farmworkers. Long periods doing physically demanding work in high temperatures and humidity can cause field workers to develop a range of illnesses, including respiratory problems, acute kidney injury (AKI), and potentially chronic kidney disease (CKD). Studies point to heat stress and dehydration as causes of AKI and CKD among farmworkers.
A group of farmworker advocates, labor organizations and health experts will send a letter soon to the governors of Washington, Oregon and California with recommendations on permanent rule-making for agricultural worker protections from wildfires, heat and smoke.
Australia Hernandez Tobon, a Whatcom County promotora, with Community to Community Development (C2C), is familiar with the dangers facing farmworkers, which are worse now with rising temperatures. Her organization is a signatory to the letter to the governors because centering the voices of farmworkers and their advocates is crucial to ensuring the best protections. C2C urgently requests residents to support farmworkers by adding their names to the sign-on letter, too. November 19 is the deadline for signatures.
The Western States Pact (WA, OR, CA) is just the beginning to get consistent standards for worker protections across state lines, then throughout the country.
Farmworkers perform one of the most dangerous and arduous jobs; they should not have to fight for access to something so basic as sufficient clean drinking water, rest and shade.
As the backbone of our food supply chain, please honor farmworkers and their families – add your name to the protections and standards letter, here: shorturl.at/knsAL.
Micki Jackson
Bellingham
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