James Schwarber, along with Restaurant Opportunity Center
(ROC) intern Kelsey McElroy, traveled to Immokalee to learn
about the struggles of Florida's immigrant farmworkers. The
interns visited the worker center shared by both the Coalition of
Immokalee Workers (CIW) and Interfaith Action of Southwest
Florida, an IWJ sister affiliate. This new center is larger than the
previous one and equipped with a radio station, media center,
and grocery store that workers and their families can utilize. The
grocery store was extremely impressive, selling items at cost,
thus forcing local grocery stores to lower their exorbitant prices.
The radio station is run by the workers and broadcasts a variety
of information including educational pieces, weather updates,
and musical programs. The interns learned about the many
campaigns (we all remember Burger King & that nine-mile march
through the streets of Miami!) that Interfaith Action of Southwest
Florida has run in conjunction with the CIW, supported by
SFIWJ and many other communities of faith and student groups.
Currently, they are spearheading a campaign geared towards
encouraging Publix, one of the largest grocery chains in the
state of Florida, to hold the tomato growers of Florida
accountable for the treatment of workers in their fields. SFIWJ
will be sending out action alerts about this campaign and asking
for your support. If you would like to send a letter to the Publix
headquarters, click here. We also ask that you consider bringing
a letter to the manager of your local Publix, and ask the manager
to send it on to headquarters.
SFIWJ visits IWJ sister affiliate Interfaith Action of
Southwest Florida
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Immigration
150 SW 13th Avenue, Miami, FL  33135
Phone  (786) 264-1708;  Fax  (786) 264-1859
interfaith@sfiwj.org; www.sfiwj.org