Jose Mendoza

Jose Mendoza, was a young migrant farmworker, he was harvesting sweet potatoes on Barnes Farming property in Spring Hope, North Carolina on September 5, 2023. The temperature was in the 90's, and Jose began to not feel well. He went to rest on a bus used for worker transportation to the fields, the fields of labor under the blazing sun. Jose came to America from Guanajuato, Mexico, with his wife and their two children. He came for what our nation could offer in honest work. He was one of God's salt of the earth. He succumbed to the heat- on a farm that previously refused to give water breaks to those out in the fields, those who toiled so hard for them. Lunch breaks were only twenty minutes. This farm was investigated in 2019 and 2020 by North Carolina Dept.of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Division for hazardous chemicals and insufficient toilet and handwashing facilities. Jose left his youthful laborer's life on the fields that oppressively hot September day. God loves His laborers, His people of the harvest. Barnes and the NC Growers Association took care of expenses related to Jose's death and funeral. His body was returned for burial back home to Mexico. His family without his presence, reposing eternal from his earthly labors We must remember this, appreciate and pray for the farmworkers, as we eat the produce from the fields. ~