Migrant families come to Manchester to work each year, May through October, at the Du Russel Potato Farm in Manchester, Michigan.  Join us in showing them some hospitality & learning from them about life as migrant workers. The St. Francis of Assisi Parish Migarnt Ministry is encouraging and assisting with some of the unmet basic needs.  We serve all 4 camps at the farm.  The camps/neighborhoods are groups of small mobile homes separated by fields. They share outdoor laundry. Each camp has roughly 10-15 families, with 6-10 people in each family.  They farm 2,000 acres.  Each year along with 10 varieties of potatoes, they grow many other vegetable crops, such as peppers, cilantro, parsley, dill, sweet corn, cucumbers, mustard, collard and turnip greens and arugula. Spinach is a new crop the DuRussels are growing. They began planting a few acres of it three years ago. Last year (2006), they grew 1,000 tons of spinach, and this year, they are planning to grow 2,000 tons. They send it to Campbell's for its V-8 Juice. They plant radishes every two days during the summer, so that there is a fresh crop every three weeks.    (More News)

· Read a book to migrant children on a Saturday afternoon at 3:30PM. (contact Hilary Connors/Givens 316-2633) .

· Household Item Donation Drive: At St. Francis Sunday, August 10 & 17.   We could use your help to make this drive work out well and get the items delivered and distributed.  Contact:  Rita Kieras (761-7796)  
(Migrants often need towels- because of the heavy and dark soil they always welcome these throughout the season.)

· Help organize a youth program for sports, drama or music with the children (contact Millie Delia Vazquez ).

---  Here are some other ideas/opportunities, if someone is interested in doing any of these sort of things, it would be awesome:
            Contact:  Millie Delia Vazquez 
     ---  to organize and train a children's choir in the camp.
     ---  a good activity for the teenagers is Drama!
     ---  to organize sports - volleyball and/or soccer, for pre-teens and teens.
     ---  babysitting on Sunday mornings when the Evangelicals take them away for a Fun morning.
     ---  to organize Home-economics type of classes for youth.
Contact:  Millie Delia Vazquez 

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Or, contact Becky Brant, LBSW, Parish Outreach Coordinator, Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County  (734-971-9781X401)
 

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· Sunday Masses are held in Spanish for migrant families and anyone else who would like to attend, at the DuRussel farm.
 

For more details contact: Scott Wright (734-821-2121) 

Directions to the DuRussel Farm,  4800 Esch Rd., Manchester,  MI  48158. (DuRussel Office 734-428-8900) From St. Francis on non-freeway roads: Drive: 18.3 mi – about 33 mins.  1. Turn left at E Stadium Blvd   2. Turn left at S Main St   3. Continue on Ann Arbor Saline Rd.  4. Turn right at Pleasant Lake Rd. 5.0 mi = 7 mins   5. Turn left to stay on Pleasant Lake Rd.  6.1 mi = 9 mins   6. Turn right at Esch Rd. -------- From St. Francis on freeway roads:   Take 94 West toward Jackson; take Exit for M-52.  Take a right onto M-52 to go south.  Follow for about 6 miles and take a left at the blinking light for Pleasant Lake Rd.  Go about 1 mile and on the left is a sign for DuRussel Potato Farm.  Take a left on the dirt road and follow past a few houses until you see farm/processing buildings on left.  The mass is visible from there on the left under a small canopy structure.

The DuRussel family members are long time active Catholics who employ and advocate for migrant workers in Michigan.

Mike DuRussel was recently named to the National Policy Board for Migrant Health, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He meets with the board, and travels to other parts of the country that employ migrant workers, such as Texas and California.

During the summer the farm employs 120 people, including migrant workers who are housed at the farm and work from June to October. In the winter, 12 employees stay on and sort and bag potatoes for transport to local markets or other states.

News from April 5, 2007:  At DuRussel's Potato Farms, 
Manchester...  (source)