Catholic Charities, Diocese of Venice, Inc.

Couple supports migrant families of Arcadia

By Lou and Catherine Baumer
Directors of Development

Arcadia—It all started with pots and pans. Then it was blue jeans, lots and lots of blue jeans.

“Now it is just whatever people need,” said Jerry Dawson, a three-year volunteer at Catholic Charities of DeSoto County. Jerry and his wife Gina came from Lincoln, Nebraska to Port Charlotte and discovered the many needs of thousands of migrant workers and their families who come to work in the Arcadia fields. They asked how they could help.

“Most of the migrant workers arrive with little more than their clothing,” said Sister Ann De Nicolo, program director for the Catholic Charities agency in Arcadia.  “I explained to Jerry and Gina that the first needs were household items, pot and pans, things for the kitchen.”

The Dawsons then began scouring the rummage sales and at one they found six hand held can openers, which they purchased. The surprised homeowner wanted to know what the Dawsons were going to do with the six can openers and they told him they were buying the items for Catholic Charities. The homeowner liked what he heard and told them that if they would come back first thing in the morning, they could have whatever remained—free of charge.

From that situation, the Dawson’s red minivan became a two-seater with a wooden floor that hauls everything from furniture to household goods to Catholic Charities in Arcadia. Many times Jerry delivers the items directly to the family in need.

And the blue jeans! When Jerry and Gina discovered that a desperate need of the migrant workers was jeans and long sleeved shirts, they contacted Pius X High School in Lincoln where their children attended. The result was a blue jeans drive. In the first year, more than 500 pairs of jeans came from Lincoln to Arcadia in the Dawson’s van.

This past year more than a thousand pairs of donated jeans were collected and unloaded in the garage of their Port Charlotte home to be sorted and brought to the clothing room in Arcadia.

“The need for blue jeans in the right sizes—24 to 32 inch waist—continues every year. Work in the orange groves is tough on clothes and no matter how many we collect, we always need more,” explained Jerry. “Long-sleeved shirts also are needed because short-sleeved shirts aren’t much help when you are working in the fields.”

Gina serves many hours tutoring migrant children in the After School Tutoring program at the Arcadia agency when she is not driving around with Jerry to scope out yard sales. Jerry said they are having fun as every day brings a challenge of new requests from just arrived migrant families.

“I could use a dozen volunteers like the Dawsons,” said Sr. De Nicolo. “I thank God for their dedication.”