TAMPA TRIBUNE

December 1, 2005

Farmworkers' Families Need A Helping Ham

By JUDY HILL

The shoe lady now needs 400 canned hams.

The switch from footwear to food isn't a huge leap for Connie Sikkema, who runs the migrant ministry program at Messiah Lutheran Church on Hutchison Road in Tampa and its small mission house at Hope Lutheran Church in Plant City.

The shoes, of course, are for the back-to-school outreach that Messiah Lutheran, Hope Lutheran and the YMCA hold for farmworker kids in July at Camp Christina in Riverview.

Generous readers of The Tampa Tribune have donated thousands of pairs of shoes to this effort through the years.

Sikkema's current quest for large canned hams is for a family holiday outreach scheduled for Dec. 10, also at the YMCA's rural facility on Balm-Riverview Road.

Many Flee Storms

About 400 farmworker families, including 1,200 to 1,400 children, will receive a new blanket and five bags of groceries at the outreach.

"I'd love to add some meat to their baskets," Sikkema says.

The food will get the families through the holidays: a critical time because school is out.

When school is in session, the children qualify for free breakfasts and lunches; when school is out, they may get only one meal a day -- if that.

The grocery bags include rice, beans, macaroni and cheese, canned tuna, canned soups and stews, and so forth. The hams will provide additional protein.

Canned hams are needed because many farmworker families have limited refrigeration to store perishable foods.

Some of the families registered for the outreach this year came to Hillsborough County from storm-damaged South Florida looking for work.

Crops were affected by storms here, too, so the demand for farmworkers this year isn't as great as in the past, Sikkema says.

Give A Smile

In addition to food, kids at the outreach will be treated to a "sharing" bag.

The bags include shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, bar of soap, wash cloth and a small toy.

"This is to bring the joy of Jesus to the kids," Sikkema says. "To put a smile on their faces."

The children prize everything in the bag, she says. Many of them have no personal hygiene items of their own. They often share toothbrushes with siblings or parents and use salt or baking soda to brush their teeth.

Sikkema added shampoo to the bag after discovering some of the mothers use harsh laundry detergent to wash their children's hair, and it sometimes burns their tender scalps.

"We live in the land of plenty," says Sikkema, who founded the ministry in 1988 and runs it completely on donations. "Every kid in America ought to have a toothbrush, a wash cloth and a bottle of shampoo of their own."

If you can help, send cash donations to Messiah Lutheran Migrant Ministries, 14920 Hutchison Road, Tampa FL 33625; e-mail ConnieSikkema@aol.com; or call (813) 960-0170.

Sikkema, by the way, is a story herself. She lives on Social Security and a stipend from the church and drives a car with 112,000 miles on the odometer.

She ministers to farmworkers across the state. Her passion to help those who labor in the fields often compels her to work seven days a week. It grows out of a bias experienced early in her life.

Most of us are not as dedicated or inspired as Sikkema.

But we can be inspired. And we can give a ham.