“We believe that we can’t fight to improve things when we’re hungry,” Leticia Zavala of Farm Labor Organizing Committee recently told us. Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), one of the Food Bank’s 900 partner agencies, serves farmworkers by giving them a voice that empowers them to advocate for themselves in the work environment.
Specifically, FLOC is a farmworker union and worker’s center. They serve farmworkers and immigrant people in Wayne County. They mostly serve the local population, but recently their work has extended to helping farmworkers across North Carolina. They educate workers on their rights at work, with the police, and within the school system.
There are systemic barriers that keep some farmworkers from getting the food they and their families need. FLOC, along with their other services, operates a food pantry to increase access to groceries. They make an announcement in the fields where people are working the week before the pantry. They reserve some food for those working on the farms who are unable to come when the pantry is open. Transportation can be a challenge to accessing their pantry, so FLOC now offers to deliver to the workers wherever they are.
“Without the Food Bank we wouldn’t be able to do anything because our day-to-day requires so much. We wouldn’t have any time to collect food and do the charity work that needs to be done. If we did not have food, we don’t think we would be able to service a lot of these people because a lot of them, especially if they go three months without getting paid, they have nowhere else to get food,” Leticia said of FLOC’s partnership with the Food Bank. By working together, we can ensure that no one goes hungry regardless of their situation.
“They’re [the farmworkers] there harvesting crops, but they need the Food Bank to bring them food.”
Our partner agencies are on the frontlines everyday serving people in need and working to end hunger. They form a diverse, dynamic, and passionate network committed to ending hunger at its root causes. When you donate to the Food Bank, you are providing our partner agencies with consistent access to food, all year round.
Thank you, Leticia and Farm Labor Organizing Committee, for your continued dedication to the communities you serve.
Your turn
If you believe in the Food Bank’s mission and would like to help support & sustain our programs, please make a donation today. Over 60% of our funding comes from individual donations by Hunger Heroes just like you! We could never do this important work alone.
