The men live in group housing at the edges of the apple orchards from April until early winter. Afterward, they travel south to find work in the Florida citrus groves. Their families are a bit better off. At least they own homes, trailers or apartments. Still, they must move frequently to find jobs. Their children are shuffled around as well, and many lag behind the academic skills of their peers.
For many, migrant workers are groups of people confined to Florida, Texas or a John Steinbeck novel. But migrant workers live in all areas of the United States, including the Charlottesville area.
To help these workers and their families better adjust to the United States, Madison House, the University's volunteer organization, has established the Migrant Aid Program. Launched in 1973, the volunteer program now has several components, including adult tutoring, Homework Helpers and a joint effort with Albemarle High School to tutor students in English as a second language classes. Each component works to help migrant workers overcome a different hardship in their lives and is headed by a University student program director.
Last Thursday, the Points of Light Foundation recognized the Migrant Aid Program as a "Daily Point of Light." The Points of Light Foundation recognizes non-profit community organizations that take an innovative route to solving serious social problems. In 1990, the Foundation recognized Madison House overall, but last week it recognized the Migrant Aid program specifically.
"We had students go up to Washington in 1990 to meet [President George Bush]," Madison House President and Executive Director Cindy Frederick said. However, this year, the award will be presented Feb. 14 in Charlottesville to honor the program.
Fourth-year Engineering student Arin Isenstein is the program director for the Adult Tutoring division of Migrant Aid. Isenstein leads groups of Madison House volunteers out to apple orchards in the surrounding areas of Charlottesville during the warmer months to tutor adult Hispanic men in English skills.
"I learned about migrant workers after reading an article a couple of years ago," Isenstein said. "I also talked to someone about the workers and later learned that they are all over the place, even here in Charlottesville."
Isenstein said there are three main areas where volunteers gather to tutor the adult male workers. The places - Jarmon Gap, Covesville and Spring Valley - are all housing units near the apple orchards provided for the workers. The housing conditions vary.
"U.Va.'s service fraternity recently built a classroom at Spring Valley, which looks like a barracks. The classroom has no heat and a bare floor, but at least it has four walls," Isenstein said.
The workers who volunteer to participate in the tutoring sessions are usually between 18 and 25. The sessions are one-on-one and focus on teaching writing and reading skills. Isenstein said some of the workers are illiterate and some of them are substantially behind in basic skills because of the poor public school systems in Mexico. Even so, she insisted that the workers are always enthusiastic about the tutoring sessions.
"They work 10-hour days, six days a week, but regardless they are very respectful of us and polite," Isenstein said. "They are grateful and are good students."
Even so, Isenstein said it can be difficult to teach the workers because they are so isolated.
"They are all living together speaking Spanish," she said. "It can be hard to break through that barrier."
The men who participate in the program are usually from Mexico and have come to the United States to help their families back home.
"They make more money here than they could in Mexico. But some of them really miss their families. I remember one guy who used to count down the months," Isenstein said. During the winter, many of the men travel to places like Florida to find work.
Another component of the Migrant Aid Program is Homework Helpers, which has a slightly different focus from that of adult tutoring. The Homework Helpers program is aimed specifically at migrant families settled in and around Charlottesville. Homework Helpers provides volunteers to tutor children of elementary to high school level to assist them in getting up to grade level in particular areas. It also aims to help children understand and complete their homework.
Fourth-year Commerce student Kristina Wippl has been the program director of Homework Helpers for the past two years. Wippl tries to provide the children, as well as their teachers, with some added support.
"My role is to organize the whole thing - to facilitate the 60 volunteers we have in the weekly sessions," she said.
She added that the volunteers tend to develop close relationships with the kids they tutor.
"Some volunteers will request the same kids for several semesters in a row," Wippl said. "The kids get attached too, though. I can remember one little boy who used to call all the time and tell us about his birthday parties and stuff."
The tutors also provide outside activities for the kids as well, such as a Halloween party and a spring picnic, said fourth-year College student Krissy Quan, a program director for the Homework Helpers.
The final component of the Migrant Aid program is affiliated directly with Albemarle High School. While it includes children of migrant workers, it is also wider in scope. The main goal of the program is to offer English tutoring to children for whom English is a second language rather than to migrant children specifically.
All three of these programs contributed to the nomination of Migrant Aid as a Daily Point of Light. Last year, the program directors recruited 112 volunteers to commit to 3,600 hours in the program.
"It's nice to get the recognition," Wippl said. However, she added that one of the new objectives for the program in the wake of this award is to expand further on-Grounds and to attract a diverse pool of volunteers this semester. Above all, Wippl said the program aims to help migrant workers and their children to succeed, with or without an award.
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