Friday, December 25, 2015

Christmas 2015: another day to celebrate holiness, family, friends, others, peace, fun, hope, and good deeds


Our City is full of good deeds all year long to help others, another example is one all year effort from St. Peters Parish.

Pacifica Tribune/Jean Bartlett Features correspondent, 12/24/15. "St. Peter Parish makes annual donation to farmworkers. Holiday joy for migrant families."

Image result for Pajaro farm workers picture
Hand packing strawberries
Image result for Pajaro farm workers picture
Picking strawberries
"For the past 25 years, members of St. Peter Parish of Pacifica have headed to the tiny town of Pajaro, near Watsonville, California. They carry with them food, gifts and holiday cheer to give to their adopted migrant farm worker families, all members of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish.

'All year long, we collect clothing, food and other gifts for these families,' said Pacifican Carney Morrow, 15, a St. Peter parishioner and a sophomore at Terra Nova High School. 'Early in December, we load everything onto large trucks and make the drive down.'

This year’s journey took place on Saturday, December 5. Carney, her parents Jason and Lory Morrow (both Pacifica-raised and Terra Nova graduates), and her sister, Izzy, 11, a sixth grader at IBL, were part of the St. Peter volunteers. This was Carney’s third time in Pajaro. The first time she went she was in eighth grade. ....'I think it is very important for people, and teens especially, to do volunteer work,' Carney noted. 'Volunteering allows you to have eye-opening experiences and see the world in new ways. It teaches the importance of giving back and allows people to feel the fulfillment found in giving to others.'"   Read article.

Related, location.  City Data, City of Pajaro, CA, population 3,070. Wikipedia/Pajaro, CA....  "The school district is in Santa Cruz County. The town, the name of which is derived from pájaro (bird in Spanish), is in the Pajaro Valley on the Pajaro River, which divides the city from Watsonville and Santa Cruz County."  Watsonville, CA/Public Library, "Pajaro Valley History". 

Related, article,. CHST 116, Introduction to Chicana and Latina Studies/Alvaro Madrigal, 4/20/15,"Shortage of farm workers to pick strawberries in Watsonville, CA." "Being raised in Watsonville CA, we were most known for picking and growing strawberry’s. But Watsonville is also know for being the Strawberry Capital of the world. At a young age i would help my father with work where he would be pick strawberry’s. There would always be a abundant of people working long hours with out break. And not many benefits for working really hard in the sun.It is peak season for strawberries, but there is a shortage of farm workers to pick them. Growers say that’s tied to the contentious battle over immigration reform and tighter borders."

Note strawberry fields photographs.  Hand packing from Watsonville, CA Public Library,"California of the past/stories of agriculture in the Pajaro Valley."  Farmworkers picking from Reuters on the related CHST 116, article above.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

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