Labor of love supports our field workers in Yuma County

Yuma County is the winter lettuce capital of the world that supplies a whopping 90 percent of the nation’s leafy greens. The labor of love program provides support to these workers by recognizing their hard work every year.

More than 60 labor farm workers were given a surprise when cars full of blankets, gloves, and socks were donated to them, this was all in support of their hard work out in the fields of Yuma County.

“It’s a way for us as the community to thank the farm workers for what they do and the hard what they put in,” said Steven Alameda, Manager of Top Flavor Farms.

About 75 random acts of kindness gifts were distributed, and about 30 volunteers work 365 days of the year to put together this display.

“We wanted to introduce them to the workers who supply the cilantro to the world,” said Alameda.

Among those workers was Gerardo Pascual who has been working out in the fields for four seasons, working from sunrise to sunset, six days of the week.

“This shows that people do care about the work we do out here, day in and day outputs a smile on my face because we are the producers of what we eat,” said Pascual.

He also said that the job could be physically and mentally exhausting but random acts of kindness like these make the difference.

“This job is really hard to come to every morning, it put a lot of strain physically to be able to get out the product as clean as possible for the product to be able to be eaten by your family and children,” said Pascual.

Alameda emphasis how important it is to educate those around the world of where their food comes from.

“To get the people of the country to understand where this food comes from and how much work goes into it, as well as the dedicated people behind it,” said Alameda.

Labor of Love has been going on for five years strong and will continue to its support for the field workers in our community that bring us our food.