We’re Providing School Supplies To Students In Sierra Leone

During a recent trip to consult with the Sierra Leone government in order to set up nutrition assistance programs, Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Eric Bost had an opportunity to visit a school in Freetown in that country. While visiting the school, he saw many children sharing school supplies. He watched as four children passed one pencil and one pad of paper between them as they worked on their class assignments.

“Kids need people to encourage them--and I think that these school supplies just might be the tools that those students need,” affirms Sara Jones (right), secretary to the deputy regional administrator of FNS’s Southeast Regional Office in Atlanta. She and Jane Monahan (left), director of the WIC Program for that office, were among the participants who provided composition books and pencils--at their own expense--that they then shipped out on behalf of students at a primary school in Sierra Leone. --Photo by Steve Watson

This gave him an idea. After witnessing this, Bost immediately made a commitment to the head teacher to provide each of the 1,100 students, at the primary school he visited, with a composition book and a pencil. A primary school is equivalent to an American Kindergarten through grade 12 school.

Upon his return to the U.S., Bost shared his experience and goal with the senior leadership in the Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services mission area. FNCS employees heard about the goal and asked how they could help.

Soon employees at the headquarters office in Alexandria, Va., and regional offices all joined forces to collect the 1,100 composition books and pencils.

For instance, at the Food and Nutrition Service’s Southeast Regional Office in Atlanta, employees coordinated this particular drive with their other donation activities. “We set up a ‘composition book and pencil drop-box,’ in addition to our food and clothing drive for the homeless, plus other drives we were working on for our troops in Iraq,” explained Margo Hester, that office’s human resources liaison. “By doing it in this fashion we gave everyone the option to participate in a charitable activity of their choice.”

Monique Hatten, human resources liaison at FNS’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Office in Robbinsville, N.J., explained that, “An e-mail was sent to all staff asking for their support. I answered the questions and collected the materials as they were turned in.”

At one point, she said, the composition books were hard to find, and employees tried looking in various stores and searching on the Internet. “Then, one of our employees found a way that we could order the composition books directly from the company,” Hatten noted.

Lois Jarema, a supply technician with FNS’s Northeast Regional Office in Boston, emphasized that, “The one thing that mattered the most to me about this donation drive was that it was all about the kids.”

At FNCS’s headquarters office employees collected composition books and pencils and also coordinated the gathering of donations from the participating regional and headquarters offices. “Our game plan was to compile all of the notebooks and pencils in one place so that we could send them out in a single shipment,” affirmed Bost.

Teronica Nixon, administrative assistant in the Office of the FNS Administrator, explained that once all the school supplies were received, work began with the U.S. Embassy in Sierra Leone to arrange shipping of the materials and to assure that no USDA funds were to be used in the shipping process. “The process has been somewhat complicated, but our goal to meet Mr. Bost’s commitment has guided us to making sure this is done effectively and efficiently,” she advised.

According to FNS Associate Administrator for Regional Operations Jerome Lindsay, Sierra Leone spends the equivalent of $1 per child per year on education.

“This initiative may not have a dramatic impact on Sierra Leone’s education system,” he observed. “But at least in this one school, it will.”

“Monumental changes begin with small steps.”  •

Temporary Farm Worker Program Eases The Burden, With RD’s Help

If you own or operate a dairy farm in Vermont, you know that getting a day off is next to impossible. But a Rural Development specialist in the state is helping to ease that burden and give you a break--literally.

He helped to set up a temporary service of trained farmhands to provide temporary labor--and thereby let farmers take some time off.

According to Mike Dolce, a business program and cooperative specialist based at the RD local office in Rutland, Vt., the idea originated with Rick LaVitre, an Extension dairy specialist at the University of Vermont. “Rick was visiting Ireland,” Dolce recounted, “and was introduced to what is called the Irish Farm Relief Service. Rick thought that a similar service, modified to accommodate American agricultural practices, was needed in Vermont.”

“So, how does it feel, guys, participating in what’s probably the only program like this in the country?” quips Mike Dolce (right), a business program and cooperative specialist based at the Rural Development local office in Rutland, Vt. He is referring to a program in which RD helped to create a farmer-owned co-op that offers temporary labor to farmers in Vermont--so they can literally take a break. Dolce is standing in the barn at a dairy farm in Cornwall, Vt., where the farm owners are on a weekend camping trip. The co-op provided Arlyn Foote (2nd from left), a retired dairy farmer, to take care of the milking, feeding, and breeding hores on the farm while the owners were away. Co-op Manager Paul Seiler (left) and Co-op Board President Bill Goddard (2nd from right) were also present.

Dolce and LaVitre subsequently teamed up to make that happen. “When Rick approached me on this project, I immediately recognized the need for this type of temp service, and knew that, in Rural Development, we could be instrumental in pulling it all together,” said Dolce. “I was in the position to facilitate the process and to provide funding and technical assistance.”

Accordingly, the two worked with a small group of farmers to assess the need and feasibility of such a service. They had surveys sent to farmers throughout the state.

The results confirmed their belief: a service that could provide temporary farm labor was needed--and would be supported and used. “We ultimately determined,” Dolce said, “that, with the right type of startup assistance, a farmer-owned and governed organization could ultimately take it from there and operate it independently as a sustainable service.”

Startup funding for a pilot program in selected counties--called the ‘Vermont Farm Labor Service Cooperative’--came from a $22,000 Rural Business Opportunity Grant from Rural Development, a $59,000 grant from the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, and $25,000 from the Vermont Legislature.

RD--in the form of Dolce--was there to help the co-op incorporate. He also assisted in the development of its bylaws and board policies, assisted with membership development, and served as an advisor at its monthly board meetings.

“For a one-time membership fee of $50 a farmer can join the cooperative and use this service to find temporary help--that is trained and experienced in what is needed to tackle chores on a farm, plus be well-versed in modern farm technologies, and who can step in at a moment’s notice--and all with no supervision,” Dolce explained.

The co-op currently charges a going rate, for the services of the temporary farm laborers, of about $15 to $25 per hour. “The rate is based on the degree of skills needed from the temporary worker,” Dolce clarified. 

“We worked with University of Vermont Extension and the Board of the Vermont Farm Labor Service Cooperative to get this pilot project off the ground,” said RD’s Vermont State Director Jolinda LaClair. “This program supports RD’s emphasis on assisting small farms and strengthening the Vermont farm economy.”

Dolce acknowledged that similar programs do exist, in some places in the country, in which groups in the private sector offer temporary labor to farmers. “But this is an effort by farmers in the U.S. to collectively address a common labor problem shared by most farmers--and to do so in a proactive manner under a farmer-owned and controlled cooperative structure.”

“And to my knowledge,” he affirmed, “this particular initiative, involving Rural Development helping to create a farmer-owned co-op which offers temporary labor to both dairy and non-dairy farmers, is the only one existing in the U.S.”

The program is now no longer a pilot, and both RD and University of Vermont Extension currently offer less hands-on assistance and instead play more of an advisory role to the co-op. Future goals include having branch offices across the state, working with the Vermont Department of Employment and Training.

“Without question, substantial challenges still confront the cooperative in bringing it to the next level--which is to develop a sustainable service cooperative for the long haul,” Dolce advised.

“But I’m confident that the co-op members will meet the task before them--and I look forward to continuing my work with them.” •