Theme: Honoring Farm Workers

 Hola todos - hoy, celebramos los granjeros!

Today, we celebrate farm workers!

*Each year, we honor and celebrate the lives of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta - Mexican farm workers who are famous for uniting workers in their fight for better wages, conditions, and basic human rights.

*Working in the fields is very hard work and without people to care for, plant, and harvest crops, we wouldn't have any food!

* President Barak Obama declared Cesar Chavez Day on March 31, on Cesar Chavez's birthday!

AND - it was Dolores Huerta who began using the phrase, "Si, se puede!" during strikes (Obama later adopted the phrase for his campaign!)

* A less-often-told story is the life and legacy of Larry Itliong - a Filipino farm worker who actually started The Delano Grape Strike.

*It was Itliong who walked off the grape fields and reached out to Cesar Chavez to unite the Mexican and Filipino farm workers' unions!

*Itliong demanded wages equal to the federal minimum wage - this means that for YEARS, farm workers were being paid LESS THAN the minimum wage and many farm workers lived in labor camps.

*Because both unions joined together, they were able to win better working conditions and they formed the United Farm Workers in August 1966.

*Call to Action: Help your community today in some small way:

- Clean up

- Wash dishes

- Prepare food

- Take out the trash, recycling, and compost

...How does it feel to help out?

...How does it feel to do the right thing?