Sat. Aug. 19. Virtual Cook, Eat & Talk

Aug4

Join the free Virtual Cook, Eat & Talk with Winona Bynum RD and OKT cooking coach, Belinda Henderson. via Facebook Live on Saturday Aug. 19. Are you pregnant, breastfeeding, or the mom of a low-birth weight baby? Are you a mom diagnosed with overweight or obesity? Do you receive SNAP, WIC, or other food assistance? Then you are invited! Join Our Kitchen Table cooking coach Belinda Henderson for a cooking demo and registered dietitian Winona Bynum in conversation on you can make easy, healthy, affordable meals for your family.

• Ask Winona what foods work for you and your medical issues.
• Grow a food garden in your window or on your porch.
• Receive vouchers good at the Southeast Area Farmers Market and select retailers.
• Learn how to stretch your food budget.
• Find out how to maximize your SNAP and WIC dollars
at grocery stores and farmers markets.

It’s farmers market time! Aug. 5 & 19

Jul31

The Southeast Area Farmers Market kicked in July with fresh produce from the Wilson Family Farm, a Black-owned farm in Hopkins that’s been owned by the same farmers for 50 years. Stop by the Market this month!

MLK Jr. Park, 900 Fuller Ave. SE 49506
11 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday Aug. 5 & 19.

On Aug. 19, we plan to offer advice on fall food gardening with tips on extending the growing season in container gardens.

SNAP, Bridge Cards, WIC, & DUFB warmly welcomed!

Free Community Dinner Invitation

Jun20

Register here: https://bit.ly/3MNdqgg.

On behalf of the Secchia family, Heart of West Michigan United Way would like to share a community dinner invitation with you and your program participants. There are no restrictions on who can attend. This is a free event and open to anyone! See information provided below.

You can register participants using the following link: https://bit.ly/3MNdqgg. You are also welcome to share the link and the attached flyer with community members.

In addition to inviting guests, the United Way is seeking volunteers.  Interested in volunteering? Check out opportunities here: https://bit.ly/SecchiaFamilyDinner.  

The Secchia family invites West Michigan to a community dinner with no formalities, just good food and fun conversations with fellow community members on Thursday, July 13th at 6:30pm. The event is free and open to all! Free parking will be available at the DeVos Place ramp.

Peter Secchia passed away in October of 2020, during the height of the pandemic, not allowing his family to follow his wishes with a large community dinner to ensure that everyone is “full” as he “loved that feeling.” He crafted a menu prior to his passing that consisted of foods he desired to eat long before he became a successful businessman.

City of Grand Rapids encourages residents to water trees.

Jun15
As OKT learned on this Tree Tour of Garfield Park some years back, trees not only clean our air, produce oxygen, and provide cooling, they also are a source of food.

While this week has delivered some much-needed rain, the City of Grand Rapids is encouraging residents to supplement recent showers by watering their trees.

Grand Rapids had only 20 percent of normal rainfall in May and June is expected to be at least as dry. The City’s Forestry division says that dry conditions, especially this early in the summer season, can have devastating effects on trees and other landscape plants.

Water help trees make it through the hot summer months with less stress. Younger or newly planted trees are at greatest risk, but even larger established trees will benefit from supplemental water. While residents should consider water use conservation, watering trees can help maintain our tree canopy, helping to clean the air, absorb greenhouse gasses/carbon, provide shade, reduce heat island effect/temperatures, and create breathable air.

Forestry offers the following tips for helping trees weather drought conditions:

  • Trees have deeper roots than turf. Slow, steady watering is needed to reach tree roots.
  • For large or established trees, water under the tree canopy moving the hose or sprinkler every few hours
  • For newly planted trees, thoroughly water the root ball and surrounding soil
  • Reduce the flow if water is seen running off the site
  • If not using a hose, a five-gallon bucket with a 1/16-inch hole drilled in the bottom will trickle water slowly into the soil. It may take several fills for larger trees
  • Dig down six to nine inches to check soil moisture. Continue watering if soils are not saturated
  • Repeat watering periodically until normal weather conditions return. Soil type, slope, amount of sun, and temperature will affect how often supplemental water is required (e.g. sandy soils
  • require more frequent watering than clay soils)
  • Wilting and leaf shedding are natural responses to drought stress. Don’t give up! Keep adding water and your tree should recover

More information can be found at the following websites:

Save the date! 2023 Southeast Area Farmers Market starts July 8.

Jun13

If you would like to be a vendor or share community resources, email SEAFM@OKTjustice.org.

This market season, the market will take place at the MLK Jr. Park, 900 Fuller SE, 49506 every other Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

  • July 8 & 22
  • August 12 & 26 
  • September 9 & 23
  • October 7 & 21
  • November 4

Human Trafficking Suit Filed Against West Michigan Blueberry Farm

Jun12

First Pick Farms violated rights of farmworkers, forced to live and work in terrible conditions

On June 9, 2023 the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), along with Farmworker Justice and Farmworker Legal Services, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan against First Pick Farms for human trafficking and violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. MIRC represents two of the affected farmworkers. 

In 2017, First Pick Farms forced a group of immigrant farmworkers in North Carolina to come to their blueberry farm in West Olive, Michigan by threatening to report them to immigration authorities if they did not comply. The workers were woken up in the middle of the night and placed in vans for the long drive to Michigan. Upon arrival, they were forced to work unbearably long hours and live in substandard housing; specifically, a residential home with only three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and no furniture for thirty workers. The workers were also forced to pay the First Pick Farms supervisor who trafficked them from North Carolina for debts illegally imposed upon them, including the cost of transport when they were trafficked to Michigan and rent for the substandard housing.

Migrant agricultural workers are one of the populations most at risk of labor trafficking in the U.S. Traffickers utilize recruitment practices that involve deception and illegal fees, trapping workers in debt, and frequently use threats related to immigration status to coerce workers to endure intolerable conditions. MIRC has repeatedly seen these patterns of labor exploitation and trafficking of agricultural workers in a wide range of work settings, from blueberry farms, to greenhouses, to dairies.  

“No one, regardless of what they look like or where they’re from, should be forced to work under threat from their employer,” said Gonzalo Peralta, staff attorney at MIRC. “Too often employers delegate the role of worker recruitment to middle management employees but this should not shield them from liability when an employee violates the law by trafficking workers.”  

“As we continually see, farmworkers are not safe from exploitation even when they follow all established legal protocol,” said Dorian Slaybod, staff attorney with Farmworker Legal Services.  “A lack of oversight allows bad actors to take advantage of workers and encourages employers to ignore civil and human rights violations.”

“The workers in this case were victims of some of the most horrific working and living conditions, which is all too common in agricultural work,” said Trent Taylor, staff attorney for the national farmworker advocacy organization Farmworker Justice. “They have demonstrated tremendous courage in coming forth and speaking out about their experiences. While the workers are seeking redress for the injuries they suffered in the court, policy change is needed to correct these endemic labor issues in our nation’s agricultural industry.”

Speaking about his experience, one of the Plaintiffs, Feliciano Velasco Rojas, recalled, “It was something very painful, it was to a certain degree mentally painful. We are accustomed to work but when we were transported to Michigan we were exhausted mentally and physically. Our families were also affected who were sick and we had taken these jobs to try to earn enough for their medications but we were not able to earn enough to get those. Additionally, the conditions, being unable to rest because we had to sleep on the floor, nearly broke me.” 

MIRC’s farmworker and immigrant worker rights practice focuses on representing farmworkers with employment and civil rights matters and specializes in cases at the intersection of workplace and immigrant rights. Workers who have questions about their rights can call MIRC’s free confidential Farmworker and Immigrant Worker hotline at 800-968-4046.

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Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) is a statewide legal resource center for Michigan’s immigrant communities that works to build a thriving Michigan where immigrant communities experience equity and belonging. MIRC’s work is rooted in three pillars: direct legal services, systemic advocacy, and community engagement and education. michiganimmigrant.org 

El 9 de junio de 2023, el Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), junto con Farmworker Justice y Farmworker Legal Services, presentaron una demanda en el Tribunal de Distrito de EE. UU. para el Distrito Oeste de Michigan contra First Pick Farms por trata de personas y violaciones de la Ley de Protección de los Trabajadores Agrícolas Migratorios y de Temporada. MIRC representa a dos de los trabajadores agrícolas afectados.

En 2017, First Pick Farms obligó a un grupo de trabajadores agrícolas inmigrantes en Carolina del Norte a ir a su granja de arándanos en West Olive, Michigan amenazándolos con denunciarlos a las autoridades de inmigración si no cumplían. Los trabajadores fueron despertados en medio de la noche y colocados en camionetas para el largo viaje a Michigan. A su llegada, se vieron obligados a trabajar horas insoportablemente largas y residir en viviendas precarias; específicamente, una vivienda residencial de sólo tres dormitorios, dos baños y sin muebles para treinta trabajadores. Los trabajadores también se vieron obligados a pagar al supervisor de First Pick Farms que los traficaba desde Carolina del Norte por deudas que les habían impuesto ilegalmente, incluido el costo del transporte cuando los traficaban a Michigan y el alquiler de las viviendas deficientes.

Los trabajadores agrícolas migrantes son una de las poblaciones con mayor riesgo de tráfico laboral en los EE. UU. Los traficantes utilizan prácticas de reclutamiento que involucran engaño y tarifas ilegales, atrapan a los trabajadores endeudándolos y frecuentemente usan amenazas relacionadas con el estatus migratorio para obligar a los trabajadores a soportar condiciones intolerables. MIRC ha visto repetidamente estos patrones de explotación laboral y tráfico de trabajadores agrícolas en una amplia gama de entornos de trabajo, desde granjas de arándanos hasta invernaderos y lecherías.

“Nadie, independientemente de su apariencia o de dónde sea, debe ser obligado a trabajar bajo la amenaza de su empleador”, dijo Gonzalo Peralta, abogado de MIRC. “Con demasiada frecuencia, los empleadores delegan la función de contratación de trabajadores a los empleados de mandos intermedios, pero esto no debería protegerlos de la responsabilidad cuando un empleado viola la ley al traficar con trabajadores”.

“Como vemos continuamente, los trabajadores agrícolas no están a salvo de la explotación incluso cuando siguen todos los protocolos legales establecidos”, dijo Dorian Slaybod, abogado de Farmworker Legal Services. “La falta de supervisión permite que los malos actores se aprovechen de los trabajadores y alienta a los empleadores a ignorar las violaciones de derechos humanos y civiles”.

“Los trabajadores en este caso fueron víctimas de algunas de las condiciones de vida y de trabajo más horribles, lo cual es muy común en el trabajo agrícola”, dijo Trent Taylor, abogado  de la organización nacional de defensa de los trabajadores agrícolas Farmworker Justice. “Han demostrado un tremendo coraje al presentarse y hablar sobre sus experiencias. Mientras los trabajadores buscan reparación por las lesiones que sufrieron en los tribunales, se necesita un cambio de política para corregir estos problemas laborales endémicos en la industria agrícola de nuestra nación”.

Hablando de su experiencia, uno de los Demandantes, Feliciano Velasco Rojas, recordó: “Fue algo muy doloroso, fue hasta cierto punto mentalmente doloroso. Estamos acostumbrados a trabajar, pero cuando nos transportaron a Michigan estábamos agotados física y mentalmente. Nuestras familias también se vieron afectadas, estaban enfermos y habíamos tomado estos trabajos para tratar de ganar lo suficiente para sus medicamentos, pero no pudimos ganar lo suficiente para conseguirlos. Además, de las condiciones, no poder descansar porque teníamos que dormir en el suelo, casi me rompen”.

La práctica de derechos de los trabajadores agrícolas e inmigrantes de MIRC se enfoca en representar a los trabajadores agrícolas en asuntos de empleo y derechos civiles y se especializa en casos en la intersección del lugar de trabajo y los derechos de los inmigrantes. Los trabajadores que tengan preguntas sobre sus derechos pueden llamar a la línea directa gratuita y confidencial para trabajadores agrícolas e inmigrantes de MIRC al 800-968-4046.

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Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) es un centro de recursos legales en todo el estado para las comunidades de inmigrantes de Michigan que trabaja para construir un Michigan próspero donde las comunidades de inmigrantes experimentan equidad y pertenencia. El trabajo de MIRC se basa en tres pilares: servicios legales directos, defensa sistémica y participación y educación de la comunidad. michiganimmigrant.org

OKT & friends planted Program for Growth food gardens at two schools

Jun5

Our Kitchen Table launched its Program for Growth at two schools in May. We are again growing food with parents, caregivers, and students at Grand Rapids Public Schools Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Academy and Kentwood Public Schools Glenwood Elementary School.

The photos show students, parents, and OKT food garden coaches planting the new food gardens.

The gardens provides programs for students in grades K-12, including garden education during school and as part of after-school and summer programs. Students grow food on school grounds, integrate garden activities into their curricula, and save and share seeds with community.