IMMOKALEE, FLORIDA

09-10 Dates: January 9-17, 2010 (includes a one-day retreat prior to departure) & February 28 - March 7, 2010

Cost: $650.00 – Plus some spending money

Immersion Site:
Immokalee is located in southwest Florida about one hour inland from Naples.  The town has an official population of about 15,000 people which grows to nearly 30,000 during the height of the growing season in mid to late winter.  Many of the short-term residents are Guatemalan and Mexican migrant farmers, some with and some without citizenship documentation.  Immokalee also has a reasonably sized Hatian population (about 10% of the total population).   

Community Partner:
The Humility of Mary Volunteers, a volunteer program for college and post-college age volunteers is facilitated by the Humility of Mary Sisters.  The HM’s are based out of northeast Ohio, with ministries in schools and social service.  Their volunteers in Immokalee work with a variety of different agencies including the local Catholic parish’s social service center and Habitat for Humanity. Year-long HM volutneers serve as the group hosts for the week. Many of the volunteers are JCU graduates!

Activities:
The experience is focused on better understanding the reality of life for the people of Immokalee through service and education.  Groups will typically participate in morning service project with one of the local non-profits and then volunteer at the Catholic-sponsored daycare center each afternoon.  Each evening usually includes an opportunity to meet with a local resident or community leader to hear varying perspectives on the challenges that Immokalee and its people face. The group will also have an opportunity to meet advocates for migrant farmworkers rights, including a meeting with reprsesntatives from the Coalition of Immokalee Farmworkers. The group will have opportunties to engage in local cultural activities including attending Catholic mass in either Hatian or Spanish to learn about the many cultural groups that make-up Immokalee.

Accommodations:
During the trip the group will travel by ten passenger vans owned by partners of the HM Volunteers.  The group will be asked to live simply during their week in order to better understand the reality of life for migrant farmworkers in the community and throughtout the U.S. The group will stay in simple accommodations, usually a Habitat for Humanity house.  The house will likley not be furnished and group members may need to sleep in sleeping bags on the floor but will have adequate usage of showers and toilets. Meals will be basic but sufficient. There will be opportunities to try cultural cuisine.