Wildfire Relief for Oregon's Immigrant Farmworkers

Photo Credit: Amanda Lucier, New York Times

The smoke has finally cleared in most of Oregon, but the effects of the wildfires will be felt by some for years to come. A recent article in the New York Times: An American Dream, Scorched in Oregon shares the heart wrenching stories of immigrants in the Southern Oregon communities of Phoenix and Talent that were hit especially hard by the wildfires with over 2000 homes lost and 40,000 people displaced.

From the NY Times article:

The Southern Oregon fire, one of the worst in a devastating fire season, destroyed more than 2,000 homes, including large tracts of the mobile home parks and apartment buildings that sheltered and sustained a large community of immigrant farmworkers, house cleaners, carpenters and cooks who had slowly been building stable new lives for themselves and their children.

For them and others, it destroyed much of the affordable housing stock in a region where vacancy rates were already low and rent was a heavy strain on workers’ incomes. In the school district that serves Phoenix and Talent, nearly half the students have lost their homes.

Many immigrant workers had already been hurt by the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing recession this year. In the spring, some large employers closed down, at least temporarily, sometimes without advance notice to their workers. Some who lost paychecks did not qualify for emergency federal stimulus measures because they or their spouse are not legal residents of the United States. When the fires hit, some families did not just lose their homes — they also lost their life savings, often kept at home in cash by people who do not trust banks.

These people are integral in our state’s food and wine industries, and they need our help.

Please join us in supporting the below efforts to help as you are able. Coopers Hall has been donating a portion of the proceeds from our Chef’s Experience dinners to Causa since early September. Come dine with us in the coming weeks for our de Garde + Mushrooms dinner paired with the wild ales of de Garde Brewing and we’ll be sending 10% to Causa. Or follow the links below to make direct donations.

Organizations to Support:

Causa - Oregon’s immigrant rights organization, Causa works to improve the lives of Latinx immigrants and their families in Oregon through advocacy, coalition building, leadership development, and civic engagement. Currently working to provide relief and support to those displaced and affected by the wildfires.

Rogue Food Unites - coordinating food businesses, farms, and cultural organizations to meet the acute demand for regional support with a community-driven meal preparation and delivery program. Meals prepared with ingredients from local farms by local restaurants are delivered to locations in Southern Oregon where residents displaced by the Almeda and Glendower fires receive the food they need. Keep our restaurants humming and our communities fed by DONATING NOW through the United Way.

Thank you to Amanda Lucier for bringing this story to life after a recent conversation with Joel Gunderson, Operating Partner of Coopers Hall.

Photo credit: Amanda Lucier, New York Times.