New life, unchanged belief

Published 12:00 am Sunday, September 30, 2001

If his dad’s caravan had not broken down in Hollandale 43 years ago, he would not have settled in Albert Lea.

Sunday, September 30, 2001

If his dad’s caravan had not broken down in Hollandale 43 years ago, he would not have settled in Albert Lea.

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If the Farmland plant had not been destroyed be fire in July, he would not have been working for the Salvation Army.

Tony Chavez, 55, a son of a Mexican migrant family and former Farmland worker, started his new life at the Salvation Army office as a food supervisor Monday after volunteering two and half months.

Chavez lost his 32-year job at Farmland after the July 8 fire.

One week after the fire, he visited the downtown Salvation Army office to volunteer. Being a Spanish-English bilingual, he thought he could contribute to the organization’s activity.

He was right.

Chavez found a lot of familiar faces from the plant among the people asking for their needs. Many of the former colleagues had little English ability. While handing food packets, Chavez could ask their concerns and gives some advice in Spanish.

Combined with new comers, mainly from Texas, Spanish-speaking visitors to the food center amounts three-quarter of the total today, Chavez said.

Being in charge of stacks in storage, Chavez keeps track, sorts out and distributes the foods. Daily allotment amounts can be as much as 33,000 pounds, he said.

The experience of being a migrant cropper amplifies his sympathy to the Hispanic visitors. Because he used to live in more or less the same situation as his clients.

For the first 12 years of his life, Chavez moved from one place to another every two to three months. Chasing harvest time, his big family – parents and ten brothers and sisters moving in a large caravan – migrated all over the middle and western part of the United States.

Living in a small room of croppers compound, Chavez did not have an opportunity to go school nor visit towns. All he knew were the fields and continuous journey.

It was by accident that the family decided to settle down.

The caravan broke down near Hollandale after thousands of miles of driving. Without enough money to fix the car, only choice for them was to stay in the area.

While his parents worked for local farms, Chavez went to school where he learned English for the first time. He moved to Albert Lea, got married, and had a stable job at the Wilson’s factory that Farmland Foods would acquire years later.

The unexpected blaze last July changed his life again.

But Chavez said he was neither worried nor pessimistic when he lost the job. Starting over again is what he went through enough times. &uot;I never thought about the future. I just went day by day. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow,&uot; said Chavez.

He advises his ex-coworkers the same.

&uot;Many of Mexican workers are still young. They don’t have a house so they can just pack and go. I encourage them to start a new life where they can find opportunities,&uot; he said.