“The earth is what we all have in common.” – Wendell Berry, farmer, naturalist and writer

For weeks now, like most North Americans and people everywhere, I’ve followed the nerve-wracking news reports of climate chaos and violent weather in many parts of the world.

Shocking. And heartbreaking.

From afar, I watched CNN’s live coverage as Houston, my hometown, was flooded with not just rain, but also toxic chemicals from oil refineries and chemical plants that dominate the Texas economy.

In Northern California, where I attended an organic seed conference, I saw skies thick with smoke from massive forest fires raging in the Northwest.

This week, disaster struck even closer to home. On Tuesday, a powerful earthquake—the second in a matter of weeks—rattled our Mexico City office.

Everyone is fine, but one of our Mexico City staff lost her family’s apartment. Seven of her neighbors died when their four-story building collapsed.

Beyond Mexico City’s borders, in impoverished rural areas wracked by hurricanes or hit by two back-to-back earthquakes, three million people who were already struggling with the basics of food and shelter, now have nowhere to turn.

OCA wants to help. We hope you’ll help, too.

Today, we launch our third-quarter online fundraising campaign. As a staff, we asked ourselves if we should hold off on this campaign.  There are so many people in need right now.

Then we had an idea. What if we reached out to you, our regular donors, with this offer: Donate to our 3rd-quarter campaign, and we’ll give back 15% of your donation to help farmers and others in Mexico hit hard by the recent earthquakes. Click here to donate online, or find out how to donate by check or mail.

Right now, our Mexico-based Vía Orgánica team is collecting food from our farm and organic food store in Mexico, along with clothes and other much-needed necessities. We’re trying to get these supplies to the areas where they’re most needed. We’ll use 15% of your donation to help buy food, clothes and other supplies, and pay for transport.

We’ll also donate to Yolcan, an organization in Mexico working to protect sensitive island farms that “float” above the surface of Mexico’s Chinampas canals. Farmers tending these lands, which provide Mexico City with much of its fresh organic fruits and vegetables, have been hit hard by the earthquakes.

These are tough times. In addition to organizations like ours asking for your continued support, you’re also being asked to pitch in to help the victims of these many and recent natural disasters.

It’s a lot, I know.

But the truth is, we can’t fight the corrupt corporations and politicians disrupting the climate and poisoning your food system without your help.

We can’t build a better food and farm system without your support.

Nearly 80 percent of our support comes from individuals like you, who understand the importance of challenging the status quo, while simultaneously supporting an organic regenerative alternative that we know will provide chemical-free food, better health, a cleaner environment and, most importantly, begin to reverse global warming and stabilize the climate.

The recent hurricanes, earthquakes and fires are a wake-up call. They remind us that we are all vulnerable.

But this thought also comes to mind: In a larger sense, each disaster ultimately affects all of us. Because we share a common home, Earth.

And how we care—or don’t care—for our common home, including our soils, waters and forests, has consequences for all of us.

Please make a generous donation today. We’ll use 15% of your donation to help the victims of recent earthquakes in Mexico. You can donate online, by phone, or by check—details here.

In solidarity,

Ronnie Cummins
International Director

 

 

P.S. Donate today, and we’ll give 15% of your donations to impoverished farmers in Mexico whose homes were devastated by recent earthquakes. You can donate online, by mail or by check, details here.