2022 Harvest Season
This fall and winter, the Mano en Mano team worked across the state of Maine to support workers arriving for the harvest seasons.
A rainy day setting up at a mobil Welcome and Resource Fair this fall
From southern Maine all the way to Aroostock county, our Access to Essential Service and Migrant Education programs partnered to perform outreach and connect with folks arriving for the potato, apple and broccoli harvests and wreath season.
In order to connect with workers, our team worked from September to early November organizing mobile welcome and resource fairs at workers housing and sites of employment. These fairs were designed to welcome folks to our community and connect them to resources and services they may need while in the area.
At the fairs, folks in attendance were given resource bags with information about COVID-19 safety and vaccination, lists of local resources and contact information, and ‘Know your Rights Information’ in order to better self advocate. We also distributed culturally relevant food, warm clothing, shoes and blankets to keep folks warm over the cold winter months.
In total, our team supported more than 1,800 people at the fairs, and distributed more than 35,000 pounds of food including culturally nourishing produce, meat, and non-perishable items.
This winter, our team saw an increase in the number of people arriving to the area to take part in wreath season, and with our extended outreach over apple season, donations of warm clothes, shoes and blankets from individuals and organizations across Maine helped fill the gap in support and keep workers safe and warm.
Access to Essential Services Director Laura Thomas says,
“This season we extended our typical outreach to include southern and northern Maine. We did this to meet the needs of the farmworker community, and create networks of support past the harvest season. Donations from individuals, families and partner organizations were crucial to ensuring the safety of workers this winter. Every coat, hat and pair of gloves makes a difference. These are resources owed to the people coming to Maine to work, and the welcome and resource fairs are an event and statement of solidarity, not charity.”
We want to extend a thank-you to our community, partner organizations and donors who made this work possible.
If you would like to support wreath workers this winter, please give to Mano en Mano today.
