Gebbers Farms' Workers Provide Funding for a Great Cause

Chelan, WA

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By ANUK Staff

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3.25.13

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Roughly 400 Jamaican seasonal farm workers at Gebbers Farms in Brewster, WA made a contribution of $250,000 in Jamaican currency to the Golden Age Home in Kingston mid-February.

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Derrick Kellier, Jamaican Minister of Labour and Social Security addressed those at the check presentation, lauding the “marvelous benevolence and act of philanthropy,” and he went on to “boast unashamedly about what these workers have decided to do by way of touching the lives of the residents of this Golden Age Home.”

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“This is a time of enormous challenges for our country. We exist in a very tight fiscal space, and in times like these, gestures of kindness and philanthropy towards the less fortunate and the very vulnerable among us take on profound significance.”

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The donation of $250,000 Jamaican dollars from the workers’ collective earnings has “brought national recognition to the best characteristic of the Jamaican spirit,” the minister continued.

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Kellier cited Gebbers Farms as well, commenting, “in the short space of two years, their establishment has made a profound impact on the history of endurance of the U.S.-Jamaica Overseas Farm Workers Programme that is over 60 years old. Not bad going for a ‘new kid’ on the block.”

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“The example set by this group of outstanding Jamaican farm workers is a genuine challenge for the current generation of professionals and entrepreneurs who need to understand that, if they are going to lead, they have to participate.”

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According to Chelan Fresh Marketing Director Mac Riggan, the workers were “never asked for this donation but simply took it upon themselves to do it.” Chelan Fresh is the marketing and sales arm for the fruit cooperative that includes Gebbers Farms, and Riggan said the Feb. 11 presentation of the check illustrated the cooperation and goodwill between the two countries.

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“This whole gesture was made possible by the working conditions provided by Gebbers Farms,” Riggan said. “It says a lot about the farm and about working conditions in the United States. The fairness of wages allows workers to do this kind of giving.”

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Riggan said the workers, who come to Gebbers Farms in June and return to Jamaica in November, will be arriving for the 2013 cherry season within weeks. “They’ve been coming to Gebbers Farms for four years, and we will be happy to see them again this spring,” he said.

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Chelan Fresh

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