Still collecting long-sleeve shirts

By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic

Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO

St. Thomas Aquinas student Natalie Sesto poses with Juan Carrillo, a Homestead farm worker, and a family from the community. St. Pius X Parish is still collecting long sleeve shirts for those who work in the fields of South Dade.

FORT LAUDERDALE � The �long sleeve shirt� campaign is still alive at St. Pius X Church � as are collections of food and money for migrant farm workers in southern Miami-Dade County hit hard by the economic downturn.

Under the direction of St. Pius� recently retired pastor, Father Patrick Slevin, parishioners have donated nearly 2,500 long-sleeve shirts and boxes of canned goods for the migrant workers in Homestead. The long-sleeve shirts protect the workers from dangerous pesticides while they pick fruits and vegetables in the south Dade fields.

Since 2006, Natalie Sesto, a student at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, has coordinated the shirt collection and organized car washes at St. Pius that have netted more than $2,000 for the migrant workers.

The shirts and donations of food and money continue to be vital to families in the migrant community. St. Pius continues to collect the shirts. Donations of food and money should be sent to: Juan F. Carrillo, spokesman for the workers who live in the government housing units in Homestead, 13466 S.W. 314 St., Homestead, FL 33033.