Our 2021 School Supply Drive for the children of farm workers was our biggest, and yet even after we met our goal of 1,000 backpacks, we had a request for an additional 19. Thanks to our supporters, we were able to fill it! 

We are so grateful to everyone who supported and promoted this important event geared to giving back to those who feed us. 

Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.) works to support efforts led by farm workers and organizes the School Supply Drive to try to help right an injustice that is taking place in a more immediate way. We know farm workers sacrifice so much for their children to have a better life, and we know an education can help with this.

We started working on the School Supply Drive in January not knowing when in-person schooling was going to resume, but we had heard that schools were going to have the water fountains turned off to prevent the spread of COVID. 

Although we are a small organization, we knew that ensuring the children could drink water while at school was important for their health, so we decided we should include the goal of adding reusable water bottles to our supply list. As a bonus, we decided that we wanted each group to choose the message they wanted the children to have on their bottles! We asked the organizations and farm workers what they thought about this idea and they responded with a universal “yes!”

And again, thanks to all of our supporters, we were able to provide these water bottles with every backpack.

As in years past, we worked with Movimento Cultura de la Union Indígena (MCUI), an Indigenous-led community based organization, and were able to deliver 304 backpacks filled with school supplies that were distributed to the children of farm workers living in Sonoma and Monterey counties. They made sure their water bottles promoted language justice, reminding the students to not forget their native tongue: No te olvides de tu Lengua Indígena (Don’t forget your Indigenous language).

We worked again with Lizbeth Valdez in the Central Valley, who works with farm workers and connects them with lawyers to protect their rights. We were able to get her 360 backpacks filled with school supplies and water bottles that said Do your best, never give up!

And finally, we are continuing our relationship with Joanna Lemus, a former teacher in the Central Valley who is now with Save the Children. Last year, she reached out needing supplies for her students who were children of farm workers, so this year, we included her as part of our drive and were able to deliver 355 backpacks filled with school supplies and water bottles that read ¡Sabemos que puedes hacerlo! (We know you can do it!)

Sadly, when we delivered the school supplies to one of the communities, right across from their beautiful K-12 school was the town’s only grocery store. The sad-looking grocery store is the only one within a half an hour and only had onions for fresh produce. We are now working with Joanna and the principal of the school to turn this around and make it something as spectacular as those living in the community!

(This project would be about 4 hours from San José, but if you are interested in helping out, just let us know.)

We hope that you enjoy these incredible images of some very inspiring children who are so very happy to have a backpack and school supplies!