On March 14th, farm workers with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and their allies will embark on a 5-day march from the small, agricultural community of Pahokee, FL, to the coastal city of Palm Beach to celebrate more than ten years of success with the Fair Food Program (FFP). The “Build A New World March” will span over 40 miles under the hot Florida sun beginning in the fields and ending at the luxury store-lined streets where Wendy’s Board Chair lives.
Marchers will be calling on retail food giants Wendy’s, Publix, and Kroger to join the Fair Food Program — a human rights initiative that many of their competitors joined over a decade ago — and do their part to help expand the FFP’s gold standard protections to farm workers on their suppliers’ farms.
The final day, March 18, will culminate in a rally at Lake Drive Park in Palm Beach beginning at 10:30 AM followed by a 2-mile march in Palm Beach. Over 50 farm workers and allies are expected to take part in the entire five-day march, with hundreds more joining for the final 2-mile stretch and rally. The march and final-day rally will be open to the public and all those who support freedom for farm workers are encouraged to participate in this peaceful protest. Please register to join in this monumental march to build a new world of freedom for all farm workers!
Can’t make it to the march? No worries, you can support farm workers from wherever you are located. We are collecting letters and messages of inspiration to share with farm workers as they march each day. Please send your letters (mailed or emailed) to jtaylor@nfwm.org by March 10th (IF you want to send a letter but need to do it through regular mail, send it to P.O. Box 10645, Raleigh, NC 27605 so it will arrive by the same day). Include your name and city/state so we can let the farm workers know how widespread the messages are.
We also are encouraging allies of farm workers, even if you have done this before, to deliver a letter to their local Wendy’s store manager. When you deliver the letter, please let us know by emailing us at jtaylor@nfwm.org and be sure to give us the location of that Wendy’s. Or you can take a photo or video of you at Wendy’s and post it on your preferred social media platform — just make sure to tag us in your post. We want to be able to cover as many Wendy’s as we can in the two weeks prior to the march. LET’S LET WENDY’S KNOW THAT WE’RE STILL HERE AND WE’RE NOT GOING AWAY UNTIL THEY SIGN THE FAIR FOOD AGREEMENT!
Here’s a message you can use: I’m joining @nfwministry in boycotting @Wendys until the final fast food holdout joins @FairFoodProgram! bit.ly/boycott-wendys #BoycottWendys”