Fourteen nonprofit organizations and the Cherokee Nation will distribute $671 million in pandemic payments of $600 per person to farmworkers, meatpacking employees and frontline grocery workers, said the Agriculture Department on Tuesday.
“Relief provided through this program is intended to cover costs for reasonable (health and safety) expenses related to the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on social media.
The largest grant, $141.7 million, was awarded to UFCW Charity Foundation to assist farm, grocery and meatpacking workers. The UFW Foundation received $97.8 million, the second-largest grant, followed by $57.4 million to National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association.
“Please note that payments are not yet available and each organization may have application periods that begin at different times,” said the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. The USDA announced the Farm and Food Workers Relief Grant Program a year ago and said a one-time direct payment of $600 would be available to qualifying frontline farm, grocery and meatpacking workers for expenses due to the pandemic.
“Pandemic relief payments will make a significant impact in the day-to-day lives of farm workers affected by the pandemic,” said Diana Torres, executive director of the UFW Foundation. “The Covid-19 pandemic left our most essential workers to fend for themselves with no federal aid, low pay, dangerous working conditions and little to no economic safety nets.”