Polar vortex, pesticides, red tape can't stop us!

By Neftali & Yesenia Cuello

Yesenia and Neftali braved brutal cold at the Capitol last week to speak out about pesticide safety.

We started working in the fields of eastern North Carolina when Neftali was 12 years old, and Yesenia was 14. We worked in tobacco, blueberries and strawberries every summer for years. We saw pesticides used nearby and were even exposed to the drift, but never knew what pesticides were.

We never heard the word “pesticide” or had a safety training until 4 years later when we joined NC FIELD and our eyes were opened.

All those years we were being exposed to these things on the job, without any knowledge of what they could do to our health. Now we go out into the fields to meet other children who are working there, photograph them and learn about their lives. We meet teenagers, sometimes kids as young as 8 and 9. Not one youth farmworker we’ve met said they’d ever had a pesticide safety training.

 

NC youth working in sweet potato. Photo by Yesenia Cuello

This is why we have to make our voices heard.

Last week we joined a delegation of farmworkers and youth who traveled to Washington DC. We met with members of Congress and the US EPA to ask them for a strong Worker Protection Standard. People shouldn’t be working with these chemicals without training and safety protections that keep them and their families safe. Kids shouldn’t be working with pesticides at all!

We don’t want unsafe pesticides on our food, and we don’t want other kids to have to work around them or with them like we and our other siblings did. We need a strong Worker Protection Standard that makes the fields and our families safer. If you agree, please make your voice heard, too.

Neftali Cuello serves on Toxic Free NC's Community Leadership Council, and is the Secretary of Poder Juvenil Campesino, the youth group of NC FIELD. Yesenia Cuello is President of PJC and serves on NC FIELD's Board of Directors.

Lead the Way to a Toxic Free Future

by Ileana Rodriguez, Development Director

Reverend Bill Kearney

Toxic Free NC’s recipe for change is all about people power. By building leadership in front-line communities, we hope to make change through the hearts, minds and hands of incredible people like you.

Your year-end donation will help lead the way to a toxic-free future. Make a gift today! 

When you make a gift, it will be put to work helping to grow Toxic Free NC and our Community Leadership Council, a group of leaders from across North Carolina who work together to reduce pesticide pollution and toxic chemicals at home in their communities across the state.

“Toxic Free NC connects me to new resources and new ways of thinking. Becoming part of the leadership at Toxic Free NC made me a stronger leader in my own community.”

Reverend Bill Kearney, Warrenton NC
Toxic Free NC Community Leadership Council, 2010-2012
Board of Directors, 2012-Present

Your gift of $25, $50, $100 - or whatever is meaningful to you - will be put to work supporting grassroots leaders like Bill. Help us keep fighting together to reduce pesticides and toxic chemicals in our environment, our food and our bodies. 

Join Bill and Toxic Free NC in leading the way to a toxic-free future for us and our families. Donate today!

Farewell to a great summer intern!

Summer Intern Mervin Davis

My name is Mervin Davis, and I hail from the beautiful archipelago of the Bahamas. I am a graduate student at Shaw University in Education. One may ask, What attracted you to Toxic Free NC? Well, having been a Health Officer for a number of years, I developed a consciousness for the protection of the environment and those who live in it.

During the preparation for summer break I decided that I would not take a trip home to my wonderful country, but instead would seek an internship here in Raleigh. I was delighted when I saw a post at Shaw’s Career Center advertising Toxic Free NC’s need for a Community Leadership Council intern. I eagerly started my research on the organization, which described itself as a mover and shaker for social justice in North Carolina. Having always been driven by a desire to campaign for a healthy environment and the creation of healthy food systems, I determined this was a fantastic opportunity.

I consider the environment my first love, which was developed through thirteen years of professional service with the Department of Environmental Health of the Bahamas. During this time I petitioned to have not just political and governmental entities determine best practices, but to have truly concerned citizens join the movement to create proposals for best health practices. I found this at Toxic Free NC.

During this summer internship I looked forward to my days at Toxic Free NC. Eager to assume all duties as outlined in my work plan, I knew that every time I completed a task it was supporting those at the forefront of the fight for health justice: the members of Toxic Free NC’s Community Leadership Council.  I have developed a great respect for every CLC member – they work tirelessly to promote best health practices for their communities.

The Community Leadership Council is a group of exemplary and upstanding individuals throughout North Carolina who campaign in different ways for healthy food, water and pesticide-free environments in their communities. CLC members all give of their time, talent and energy in spite of busy schedules, family and miscellaneous duties for a cost that counts: food and health justice. One member I have gotten to know well is Connie Schultz, who works with NC Community Garden Partners, among other organizations. Connie has been exceptionally friendly and always eager to be of assistance to me. Connie has a strong desire to educate and share relevant information, and thanks to her I learned about the Endocrine Disruption Exchange. Thanks Connie for being such an ambassador for health justice.

I am exceptionally grateful that I was given the opportunity to be a part of the movement that unselfishly educates and empowers the community for health justice with no ulterior motives. Toxic Free NC in her quiet yet strong stance acts as a watchdog; and exclaims to all systems that affect the environmental health of those in North Carolina, “You are accountable and someone’s watching!”

Special thanks for the donors who made this internship possible; it won’t be forgotten. To Toxic Free NC’s staff members, “you guys make it easy to fit in.” Last but not least the Community Leadership Council, thank you for allowing me to serve you.

P.S.

Toxic Free NC's Community Leadership Council is taking applications for new members through August 13th! If you're a local leader for Food Justice, please apply!