On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company’s Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Migrant worker at ABC Martin Ruiz Garcia gets a hand from co-worker Felix Nieves, a Hammonton resident.
Matthew Strabuk / For The Press
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company’s Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Volunteers (l-r) Adriana Sauce, 25, of Bridgeton and Nicolas Matteo, 22, of Washington Twp. help out with the nex pallett to be picked up.
Matthew Strabuk / For The Press
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company’s Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Volunteer Jose Guzman, from the group CATA based in Pennsylvania, grabs another box of corn to be handed out.
Matthew Strabuk / For The Press
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company's Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Hauling food back to Blueberry Bill farm workers in Hammonton, Jose Ruiz and Luis Ruiz.
Matthew Strabuk / For The Press
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company's Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Rafael Mendez of Pleasantdale Farm has a load of food secured in his truck, which he'll drive back to his farm and issue out to all the migrant workers there.
Matthew Strabuk / For The Press
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company's Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Hammonton resident and ABC worker Paul Benedetti loads a pallett of food onto a truck bound for another farm.
Matthew Strabuk / For The Press
Jose Antonio, an employee of Atlantic Blueberry Company in Hammonton, carries away his food allotment Friday during a Community FoodBank of New Jersey food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers. More than 650 workers in the region were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn and masks.
Matthew Strabuk / For The Press
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company's Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Workers at the blueberry company wait to sign in for their food boxes.
Matthew Strabuk / For The Press
Alejandro Ortiz and Juanita Ramos pick up a box of dry goods Friday during a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers at the Atlantic Blueberry Company in Hammonton.
Matthew Strabuk / For The Press
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company’s Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. (l-r) Millie Irizarry-Santos, the Network Engagement Specialist and Mobile Food Pantry Supervisor hands out masks to Rafael Mendez of Pleasantdale Farm which he’ll deliver to the workers.
Matthew Strabuk / For The Press
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company's Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. (l-r) Co-owner of ABC Art Galletta and Foodbank representative Millie Irizarry-Santos talk about the free masks being issued.
HAMMONTON — Rafael Mendez’s truck was the first to arrive at the Atlantic Blueberry Company on Friday to pick up food.
Volunteers from the Community FoodBank of New Jersey loaded it with a pallet of canned goods, produce, beans and masks for Mendez and other employees at Hammonton’s Pleasantdale Farm.
The 25 migrant farm workers of Pleasantdale were the first of more than 650 to receive food as part of the food bank’s latest effort to battle food insecurity brought on by COVID-19.
It was the organization’s third food drive in as many months.
“It’s very important,” said Mendez, 53, who is originally from Guanajuato, Mexico. “It’s always nice when someone does something for the community. To us, it’s very valuable.”
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More than 20,000 pounds of food were delivered to the loading bay of the Atlantic Blueberry Company on Friday, and trucks from at least 12 other South Jersey farms were registered to pick up pallets of food for their employees.
Each worker from the farms received a box filled with beans, pancake mix, macaroni and cheese, syrup and canned goods in addition to a small crate of corn. Packs of masks were also provided.
The food drive’s host also received food for its employees. According to a form detailing the distribution, Atlantic Blueberry received 375 boxes for its employees at both its Hammonton and Mays Landing facilities.
“It’s extremely appreciated in this kind of environment with all this stuff going around,” Atlantic Blueberry co-owner Art Galletta said. “These people really appreciate it.”
Galletta said the company had to quarantine a few employees after positive coronavirus tests, but they had not experienced an outbreak. He also mentioned that due to the health value in blueberries, it’s been a successful season and financial hardships have been kept to a minimum.
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“People want to eat healthy during this kind of situation to keep their systems up to snuff,” Galletta said.
To maintain social distancing, however, the company has had to reduce the capacity of its living quarters. Elsewhere in Hammonton, Blueberry Bill Farms has done the same. According to 19-year-old employee Luis Ruiz, the dormitories at Blueberry Bill that can hold up to 150 people now only house around 30.
“It’s a lot of new stuff that we have to get used to,” Ruiz said. “And I’m pretty sure this is going to last for another year, so this is not going to go away that easily and we have to adapt and get used to all this stuff.”
Ruiz has been on a farm most of his life. His father, Jose, has been a manager on the farm for 25 years, and Luis’ family left Michoacan, Mexico, when he was 2 to join him.
Luis said the inclusion of masks was especially important.
MAYS LANDING — Paul E. Galletta, the co-owner of the Atlantic Blueberry Co. farm here, knows…
“Sometimes we don’t get enough masks to go inside the stores,” Luis said. “And (some of the workers) don’t understand the importance of the mask and all that stuff.”
The food bank held two similar drives for migrant farm workers in Cumberland County. With more than 650 boxes distributed, Friday was the largest of them so far.
“Food insecurity is one of the biggest issues (among farm workers),” said Millie Irizarry-Sanchez, a network engagement specialist and mobile food pantry supervisor for the food bank. “For us to be able to give them some kind of relief, it alleviates a lot of the stress and pressure that’s already on them. They work really hard in brutal heat and weather conditions, and then have to worry about what they’re going to eat.
“Now they have a little something that they can work with.”
A fourth drive is being planned for next month. A date and location have not been determined, but Irizarry-Sanchez said it will likely be in Bridgeton.
PHOTOS from a food drive for farm workers in Hammonton
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On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company’s Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Migrant worker at ABC Martin Ruiz Garcia gets a hand from co-worker Felix Nieves, a Hammonton resident.
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company’s Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Volunteers (l-r) Adriana Sauce, 25, of Bridgeton and Nicolas Matteo, 22, of Washington Twp. help out with the nex pallett to be picked up.
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company’s Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Volunteer Jose Guzman, from the group CATA based in Pennsylvania, grabs another box of corn to be handed out.
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company's Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Hauling food back to Blueberry Bill farm workers in Hammonton, Jose Ruiz and Luis Ruiz.
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company's Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Rafael Mendez of Pleasantdale Farm has a load of food secured in his truck, which he'll drive back to his farm and issue out to all the migrant workers there.
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company's Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Hammonton resident and ABC worker Paul Benedetti loads a pallett of food onto a truck bound for another farm.
Jose Antonio, an employee of Atlantic Blueberry Company in Hammonton, carries away his food allotment Friday during a Community FoodBank of New Jersey food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers. More than 650 workers in the region were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn and masks.
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company's Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. Workers at the blueberry company wait to sign in for their food boxes.
Alejandro Ortiz and Juanita Ramos pick up a box of dry goods Friday during a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers at the Atlantic Blueberry Company in Hammonton.
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company’s Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. (l-r) Millie Irizarry-Santos, the Network Engagement Specialist and Mobile Food Pantry Supervisor hands out masks to Rafael Mendez of Pleasantdale Farm which he’ll deliver to the workers.
On July 31st, at the Atlantic Blueberry Company's Hammonton location, The Community FoodBank of NJ holds a food drive for seasonal migrant farm workers who have been impacted by the the pandemic. 600 workers in the region, including workers from ABC, were to receive a box of dry goods as well as harvested corn. (l-r) Co-owner of ABC Art Galletta and Foodbank representative Millie Irizarry-Santos talk about the free masks being issued.
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