Farmworker Advocacy Network Honored with Citizen Award
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 at 9:42AM by Anna Jensen "What drives people to public service is a sense of possibility."—Henry Hampton, an African-American filmmaker whose productions, including Eyes on the Prize, focused on social justice
(excerpt from IndyWeek coverage 1/29/14)
On Saturday, February 22nd, several members of the Farmworker Advocacy Network joined activists, artists and other members of the North Carolina Triangle region in downtown Durham who were honored with a luncheon and awards ceremony by the Indy, the area’s premier media publication for progressive news, culture and commentary, for making the Triangle a “more just and compassionate place.” The prestigious Citizen Awards are given each year to a handful of people who are recognized for being champions of change in their communities and who often carry out this work with little or no fanfare. FAN is pleased with the opportunity to highlight its issues among the Indy’s readership and also to be counted in the company of inspiring individuals and groups fighting to make our state a better place to work and live.
Clermont Ripley, a member of FAN and attorney with the NC Justice Center, accepted the award on behalf of the coalition. She spoke about FAN’s 10-year tenure of advocacy, research, organizing and public awareness-raising efforts to improve conditions for farm and poultry workers and their families and to strengthen existing laws.
Read the write-up about FAN in the Indy’s special Citizen Awards edition!
Other 2014 award recipients are Monika Johnson-Hostler of the NC Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, Thava Mahadevan of Penny Lane Farm, and three area advocates for the homeless: the Rev. Carolyn Schuldt of Open Table Ministry, the Rev. Hugh Hollowell of Love Wins Ministries, and Durham lawyer Scott Holmes. A special mention was given to the Rev. William Barber of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP and Moral Monday protestors. Find out more about these and past honorees here.
FAN thanks the Indy for this esteemed recognition, its coalition members and allies working tirelessly against the tide of an unjust agricultural system, and most of all, the thousands of field and poultry workers and their families in North Carolina for the filling our tables with abundance.
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