Thanksgiving Letter to Trader Joe's

Dear Mr. Bane,

As we approach Thanksgiving and religious congregations across the nation pause to give thanks for a bountiful harvest and human community, we are reminded that, in the most basic and essential aspects of our life together, food and work, members of our society are interconnected. Our choices and actions impact one another, and we have both the power and the responsibility to create economic systems that promote and protect human well-being.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers' fair food agreements with nine major food buyers and over 90 percent of Florida tomato growers, are improving poverty wages and overcoming generations of human rights abuses faced by farmworkers in the fields. But this harvest will only be bountiful if Trader Joe’s shares in cultivating it.

As people of faith we give thanks to God for the first fruits of this new harvest of human rights. And we take this opportunity to encourage Trader Joe’s to sign a fair food agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Please help bring about a harvest that is both abundant and just.

Sincerely,

The Rev. Gradye Parsons
Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)

The Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo
Executive Minister, United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries

James Winkler
General Secretary, General Board of Church & Society of the United Methodist Church

The Rev. Peter Morales
President, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

The Rev. Christopher A. Johnson
Social and Economic Justice Officer, Episcopal Church

The Rev. Michael E. Livingston
Director, National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative
Former President, National Council of Churches

James Ennis
Executive Director, National Catholic Rural Life Conference

Rabbi Jill Jacobs
Executive Director, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America

Virginia Nesmith
Executive Director, National Farm Worker Ministry

Kim Bobo
Executive Director, Interfaith Worker Justice

Winston Carroo
Director, Agricultural Missions