05174
April 1, 2005   

Moderator plans ‘day of mission’ in Immokalee 

Event to involve Ufford-Chase, farmworkers, young Presbyterians

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE — The Taco Bell boycott has ended, but the campaign for fair food continues.

     That’s why Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), will join Presbyterian youth and young adults for a “day of mission” in Immokalee, FL, on April 10.

     Those attending “Moderator’s Day” also will meet with members of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a group that represents farmworkers who pick the tomatoes used in Taco Bell products.

     The CIW, comprised mostly of Mexican, Guatemalan, and Haitian farmworkers, organized the national consumer boycott of Taco Bell, which the 214th General Assembly of the PC(USA) endorsed in June 2002.

     The nearly four-year-long boycott, which ended last month, was organized to protest the low wages and poor working conditions of the farmworkers.

     Participants in the moderator’s event will tour the Immokalee community, visiting sites where pickers gather to seek work and learning about the difficult conditions they face in the fields of Florida.

     They also will tour homes of the low-wage workers, where as many as 12 workers cram into one trailer to pay exorbitant rent.

     “This is a unique opportunity for youth and young adults to integrate their desire for justice while learning how the church has been working as a partner with people who are resisting systemic exploitation every day,” said the Rev. Noelle Damico, the national coordinator for fair food for the PC(USA), formerly the denomination’s Taco Bell boycott coordinator.

     The boycott ended successfully on March 8 with a historic agreement between the CIW, Taco Bell, and Yum! Brands, Inc., the Louisville-based parent company of the Mexican-style fast-food chain.

     The agreement will affect more than 1,000 workers who harvest tomatoes for Yum! suppliers. 

     Workers who now earn 40-45 cents for each 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they harvest will soon make at least 72 cents per bucket — an increase of 60 to 80 percent.

     The penny-per-pound raise will help lift some of the nation’s lowest-paid workers out of poverty.

     “I’m so excited about what it meant for those Presbyterians to stand up and provide leadership (during the boycott),” Ufford-Chase said. “Also, I have to say I’m humbled that the leadership of Yum! Brands chose to become allies in this struggle for dignity with the workers.”

     Damico said the daylong event will give participants an opportunity to learn about the agreement that ended the boycott and to reflect with Ufford-Chase and the CIW about “partnership, mission, and transformation.”

     Moderator’s Day is being sponsored by the presbyteries of Peace River, Tampa Bay, Central Florida, and Tropical Florida, along with the Office of the Moderator and the Presbyterian Church (USA) Hunger Program.

     Programming is being organized by an intergenerational team of members from the presbyteries and Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr, PA, which supported the boycott.

     The event will begin with worship and Communion. The service will be conducted in Spanish, Creole and English with sermons by Ufford-Chase and Gerardo Reyes Chavez of the CIW.

     Young people from the Florida presbyteries helping to plan the event will join with workers as liturgists. Damico and the Rev. Adan Mariena, a resident -in-ministry at Bryn Mawr church, will lead the service of Communion.

     The rest of the day will be spent in dialogue with the CIW about exploitative conditions in the fields, the history and success of the Taco Bell boycott and “what it means to be in partnership together through Christ to transform our world,” Damico said.

     A shared lunch of traditional Mexican food will provide the opportunity for participants and workers to talk informally, Damico said.

     After further reflection together in large and small groups, the day will culminate in a liturgy of commissioning for mission.