6MayJune06IWillFeedThemWithJustice

“I Will Feed Them with Justice” “I will seek out my sheep... and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak,....I will feed them with justice. ” EZEK. 34:12-16

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The Lord longs to feed his people. He is the Good Shepherd, inviting us into a land of plenty where the earth is fruitful; where the grain and wine and oil never run out; where herds and flocks increase and the people are blessed with health, joy, and love (Deut. 7:13-16).

Sounds like heaven, doesn’t it? But PRISM found it right here on earth. Turn the pages to discover a handful of Christ’s followers who simply aren’t willing to wait for heaven in order to enjoy abundant fruit, communion of saints, and just

distribution of wealth. They are working —here and now—to strengthen the weak, to build community, and to feed the sheep that are so precious to our Savior.Whether it’s providing fair wages and the opportunity for homeownership to agricultural workers, making sure that low-income residents of the inner city have access to healthy foods, or raising cattle to support missions near and far, these Christians are using all the resources God has provided to be fruitful and multiply his love and justice on earth.

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A Harvest of Justice

So the Nogajs began their crusade against Immokalee’s crushing poverty by first establishing Harvest for Humanity in 1998, a not-for-profit enterprise that pays a living wage to workers who harvest niche crops such as heirloom tomatoes, Valencia oranges, and, most importantly, blueberries.

Their 110-acre farm in north Immokalee grows four varieties of the berry, which, despite the shifting sands of food science and research, is a reliable winner.

The couple’s business model stands in stark contrast to the typical Immokalee system. At Harvest for Humanity, no worker earns less than $8.50 per hour, and skilled pickers can make up to $18 per hour.

“Pickers live below the poverty line, earning anywhere from $7,000 to $15,000 a year,” explains Francisca Cortes, an agricultural worker living in Immokalee. “For a farm worker to earn $50 in one day of intensely hard work, he or she must pick 4,000 pounds of tomatoes.”

In addition to low wages, the abuse of basic human rights is rampant.“There are cases of people working as modern slaves, right here in the United States,” Cortes continues.“Many others are working in sweatshop conditions.”

Why are “slaves” working in “sweatshop” conditions picking America’s produce in Florida?

According to Dick, the answers are deeply systemic and embedded in an agricultural industry dependent on keeping labor costs as low as possible. Dick explains that growers pay pickers very little, because corporate buyers establish the prices for wholesale produce. Growers are not “price-givers,” but “price-takers,” says Dick, and therefore subject to the whims of corporate pricing. In other words, although some growers would like to pay a living wage to workers, their hands are essentially tied by corporate price-setting. If Taco Bell, for

From fair wages to homeownership, agricultural workers in Immokalee, Fla., are reaping the fruits of one couple’s commitment to living out the gospel

Pascal Blancon

B Y K AT H R Y N M A C I V O R AND JOSHUA ANDERSEN

“It’s a frontier town out there,” says Bob Scott, an aging airport shuttle driver. “But I guess it serves its purpose.”

What Scott calls “frontier” is in fact the tiny town of Immokalee in southwest Florida, where a predominately Hispanic and Haitian community lives in squalid conditions.

The “purpose” of Immokalee, according to Scott and many Americans, is to provide cheap harvesting of tomatoes, peppers, and other produce, keeping fast food inexpensive and the wallets of corporate buyers fat.

But there is an underbelly to Immokalee’s agricultural system. Behind the scenes and far from the minds of average fast-food consumers is a town where workers have been beaten for taking water breaks, are paid close to nothing for their labor, and are expected to live shoulder to shoulder in decrepit trailers, apartments, and houses managed by slum lords.

The good news is that two entrepreneurial Christians are on the frontlines of the struggle, determined to change the economic and spiritual landscape of Immokalee.

Dick and Florence Nogaj (pronounced no-jay), a retired couple from Wheaton, Ill., joined the fight for justice in Immokalee after a vacation to Fort Myers in the mid-’90s sparked them to action.The evening news ran a story in which migrant workers, fed up with their treatment at the hands of growers, went on a hunger strike. Although the Nogajs had never before heard of the small town, something about the plight of Immokalee’s workers captured the couple’s hearts.

“Florence and I essentially hate poverty,” says Dick. “That’s why we came. When we saw the third-world poverty here in Immokalee, we said that’s not socially, politically, or spiritually acceptable.”

According to Dick and Florence, the root of Immokalee’s poverty corresponds to two central needs—a lack of decent, affordable housing and the exceptionally low wages paid to workers.

Dick and Florence Nogaj examine the tomato plants at Harvest for Humanity.

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example, says it will pay a certain price for tomatoes, it is up to the grower to cut whatever corners necessary to make a profit. It is the pickers and packers who ultimately bear the brunt of the system.

But Dick and Florence believed they could build a better farming system, despite the immensity of the problems, and the intensity of opposition.

“Our commitment is to building new models and building them in such a way that they are models of things that have not been done before,” says Dick. “When someone says ‘it’s not possible, it can’t be done,’ that really drives us to examine why.”

Their blueberries are marketed as a “fair food” product, which guarantees that the process of harvesting and packaging is done in a “just” way and that workers are paid a living wage.

With the success of fairly traded coffee putting wind in his sails, Dick believes that if there is enough market demand, corporate America will wake up and take notice.

“If 10 percent of the population buys fair food at 10 percent over commodity prices, agricultural poverty will end in the United States,” says Dick.“But demand is key.We’re all part of the solution and we’re all part of the problem.The consumer is just as much of the problem as the grower or the buyer, because they are demanding the lowest possible price.”

Cortes, who has for years worked in Immokalee’s fields and now works for the grassroots Coalition for Immokalee Workers, agrees wholeheartedly. “We need to change the mentality of the corporations as to how they bring their products to the market,” says Cortes, “because the ultimate consumer is not going to want to buy produce that comes from sweatshops, that comes from slavery, that comes from the abused.”

According to Dick, if consumers choose to pay a little more for their food and if “cause-related marketing” catches on

in a significant way, then CEOs will have no choice but to listen.

Getting corporations to bend their collective ear is admittedly an uphill battle, but the market for fair food is picking up steam and a growing segment of Americans are demanding that their food, clothing, and coffee come from sources committed to justice and the fair treatment of workers.

Dick believes university students are central to the causerelated marketing revolution. He sees terrific potential in students rallying around these issues and starting campaigns on their campuses, in their cafeterias and cafés. According to Dick, if students lead the way, it will only be a matter of time before CEOs realize that fair food is simply “good business.”

Breaking the cycle of poverty

The Nogajs’ vision for Immokalee quickly extended to the second piece of a complicated socioeconomic puzzle: affordable housing.

“Home ownership is the only way these people are going to escape poverty,” says Dick, “because for the first time in their lives they can start building assets. That’s how you break the cycle of poverty.”

While trying to secure decent wages for workers, the Nogajs saw the only upwardly mobile residents of Immokalee skip town as soon as they had the financial resources to do so.

It was a choice between slumlords in Immokalee or moving out of town.

This exodus set a precedent in which success equaled a one-way ticket to Naples or Fort Myers or Leigh Acres, all towns within a half-hour’s drive of Immokalee. This loss of a burgeoning middle class ensured that the economy of Immokalee would remain squalid and insular.

But the Nogajs’ faith led them to leap headfirst into building an affordable housing community that would snag the upwardly mobile, keeping resources and good economic role models in Immokalee. Jubilation, a smattering of single and multi-family dwellings built around a community center, was born.

Above: Kids growing up in the Jubilation community know a very different life from that of the typical agricultural worker’s family.

Left: Stephen Perez, Harvest for Humanity’s farm manager.

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Page 10 & 11 photos by Joshua Andersen.

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More than 90 percent of residents are first-time homeowners. Many never have to set foot in a bank because Dick and Florence are committed to mentor and train potential residents in credit and loan processes. The couple is intimately involved in the entire process, from the initial paperwork to the move-in day.

“We believe in giving a hand up, not a hand out,” Dick says, “so we mortgaged everything we own and built the farm and Jubilation. I am driven to respond to needs when I see them. No one was bringing change to Immokalee. We decided we could do it. We can make a difference.”

The Nogajs’ gospel is one of responsibility. Mantras such as, “To whom much is given, much is required” and “Love thy neighbor as thyself ” are touchstones for the couple, who describe their marriage as a “synergistic spiritual partnership.”

“We spark each other,” says Florence. “We are able to build on each other’s ideas and to keep each other going against all odds.”

While retirement beckoned with promises of rest and relaxation, Dick and Florence traded in their dreams of a boat and a beach house for a life of service in the “frontier” town of Immokalee.

“Examples of hope are what’s needed in this community,” says Dick, “and that’s exactly what Jubilation did.”

The Jubilation community is an oasis in a desert of economic despair. The streets are clean, the yards meticulously landscaped and the neighbors friendly. Brazilians, Mexicans, Haitians, African Americans, Cubans, and Anglos receive computer and language training together in the community center, and playgrounds are daily overrun by a multi-ethnic crowd of children.

But Jubilation is helping to change more than just the town’s landscape.

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to Immokalee!” says Elizabeth De La Rosa, president of Jubilation’s homeowners association and a lifetime resident of Immokalee.

“Many families come from the third world and they feel blessed to be here. The conditions they were living in in Cuba [and] Haiti...were the same they found in Immokalee.”

Carmelita Lopez, for example, grew up in the shadow of Immokalee’s bars, where fistfights and break-ins were common.

Her entire family was connected to agriculture—her father was a crew leader, her brothers worked in the fields, and her sisters sorted produce after it was harvested.

Lopez was the first and only person in her family to graduate from high school, yet she and her husband were stuffed three families deep into a small, decrepit house for more than seven years. Because her husband was a police officer, the Lopez family eventually had enough stability to buy a home. They searched within a wide radius outside of Immokalee, but finally discovered Jubilation within the town limits.

Before the existence of Jubilation, the Lopez family was exactly the kind of upwardly mobile family that Immokalee was unable to keep from moving up and taking their example of success and hope with them. Thankfully, Jubilation now provides another option.

“When you pretend, you never think you could live in a place like this,” Lopez says. “I never thought I would.” But the Nogajs worked with the Lopez family to secure a loan and help settle them in the community. Carmelita’s success story is now only one of many.

“Immokalee’s changed so much for the better,” says Elizabeth De La Rosa.“We’ve got 89 families here that would have been in apartments, low-income housing, or shacked up in another mobile home.”

(To learn more, go to aboutharvest.org.)

Kathryn MacIvor is production manager for the Latin America and Caribbean region of Geneva Global, Inc., an advisory firm for philanthropists. (The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of Geneva Global, Inc.) Joshua Andersen is a freelance writer, arborist, and student at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa.

Jubilation is a 40-acre community that consists of lovely homes, a bustling activity center, safe streets, and plenty of open green space.

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