Loaves and bridges was founded by Mike Fischer and Tom and Dawn McCarthy (owners of the Hamlet diner) as an effort to prepare and serve one authentic meal to the migrant workers from Green Empire Farms that have been quarantined due to the covid-19 outbreak. They have created a group which consists of local volunteers that will help with packaging and distribution efforts as well as food preparation.Tom and Dawn along with Antonio Guerrero (owner of La Cocina) will do the main dishes. We are asking for donations to cover the cost of the food and the packaging needed to fulfill this effort. Any money raised over the food and packaging costs will be donated to our local food pantries.
I am adding this story from Mike Fischer one of the founding members.
From inspiration to perspiration... the 45-year story of how our Loaves and Bridges ministry began.
I watched John Becker deliver a press update on the COVID-19 impact on migrant workers from Green Empire Farms who are quarantined in cramped hotel rooms. I was struck by his empathy for the workers and their fear and isolation given the pandemic. While I was watching John speak, a memory was triggered for me.
In the summer of 1975, I worked “on the muck” for Sky-Hi Farms, along with a lot of Chittenango High School students- and a group of migrant workers from Mexico. The Mexican families were housed in a trailer camp at the end of Smith Ridge Road in Lakeport (where I was raised). Because I was fairly fluent in Spanish I was given the task of driving the women of the migrant families- in the back of a pickup truck- to cash their paychecks at the State Bank of Chittenango and then head to P&C for groceries. One of the women explained to me that the P&C didn’t carry a lot of the ingredients necessary to prepare an authentic Mexican meal. She offered a deal- if I could find the items she wanted at another store, she and her husband would invite me and my girlfriend over to their trailer for a home-cooked dinner of Arroz con Pollo and tortillas. For a young guy from Smith Ridge Road who was studying Spanish- this was wonderful.
So off I went to a couple of stores in Syracuse where I found corn flour and a few other staples for Mexican food.
The couple welcomed us into their home and shared a fabulous feast- complete with homemade flan for dessert!
This memory from 45 years ago hit me during John Becker’s news conference, and I remembered the name of the gracious couple who invited me to break bread:
Sr. Ramon y Sra. Carmen Corona.
Coincidence? Nope.
I am adding this story from Mike Fischer one of the founding members.
From inspiration to perspiration... the 45-year story of how our Loaves and Bridges ministry began.
I watched John Becker deliver a press update on the COVID-19 impact on migrant workers from Green Empire Farms who are quarantined in cramped hotel rooms. I was struck by his empathy for the workers and their fear and isolation given the pandemic. While I was watching John speak, a memory was triggered for me.
In the summer of 1975, I worked “on the muck” for Sky-Hi Farms, along with a lot of Chittenango High School students- and a group of migrant workers from Mexico. The Mexican families were housed in a trailer camp at the end of Smith Ridge Road in Lakeport (where I was raised). Because I was fairly fluent in Spanish I was given the task of driving the women of the migrant families- in the back of a pickup truck- to cash their paychecks at the State Bank of Chittenango and then head to P&C for groceries. One of the women explained to me that the P&C didn’t carry a lot of the ingredients necessary to prepare an authentic Mexican meal. She offered a deal- if I could find the items she wanted at another store, she and her husband would invite me and my girlfriend over to their trailer for a home-cooked dinner of Arroz con Pollo and tortillas. For a young guy from Smith Ridge Road who was studying Spanish- this was wonderful.
So off I went to a couple of stores in Syracuse where I found corn flour and a few other staples for Mexican food.
The couple welcomed us into their home and shared a fabulous feast- complete with homemade flan for dessert!
This memory from 45 years ago hit me during John Becker’s news conference, and I remembered the name of the gracious couple who invited me to break bread:
Sr. Ramon y Sra. Carmen Corona.
Coincidence? Nope.
Organizer
Laurie Hollenbeck
Organizer
Sullivan, NY