Every Wednesday in summer, 350 families, most of them migrant workers from the Skagit Valley, line up at the food bank behind St. Charles Church.
The banco de comida opens at 4 p.m., but by 3, the line already stretches across the parking lot, even on a cold, rainy day. The families wait for a grocery bag, or two, of food - all of it gathered, sorted and distributed by teens. About 30 Seattle youths give a week during their summer break to haul food up to Burlington and work as volunteers.
Recently, I joined the 12- to 14-year-olds from St. Benedict's Catholic Church as they stood in the cold and rain and cheerfully distributed the much-needed supplies.
Renee Lindstrom, youth minister at St. Ben's, has accompanied teens to the Youth Migrant Project for at least seven years.
Camille, Loralei, Sarah, Anna, Jay and Tim chose to work the week of July 4. The holiday cut their service time by a day and allowed no time for formal orientation. The kids didn't mind. "It's better to jump in," one told me.
Jose Ortiz, the project manager, explained as they went along, giving them daily instruction on what they were doing.
Migrant camps
This Archdiocese of Seattle project began in 1985, when a parishioner from St. Joseph Church in Lynden, Wash., noticed migrant infants and preschoolers left alone in vehicles on summer days while their parents picked fruit in the valley.
Youth ministers organized and teens donated time and effort to staff a summer day-care program. Now, the Washington State Migrant Council runs four day-care centers where teens help out, as well as at the food bank.
Part of the experience involves visits to the migrant camp. Families invited the teens into their homes. Loralei told me about one house that served a family of six, the whole place only half the size of her bedroom.
The teens described the camp as dirty and yet they spoke in awe of the workers who live there and put up with it.
"They still have dignity," Emma told me, and Anna pointed out that the people seem happier than many people she knows at home in Wallingford and Fremont. People who have things always want more, but the workers, according to our young ambassadors, will give you everything they have.
Part of their visit to the migrant camp included a piñata for the workers' kids. Once the colorful paper fell off the decoration, the children played with the leftover cardboard box. Even a simple item could provide endless entertainment. The St. Ben's teens enjoyed the children's lack of reserve.
The migrant children immediately accepted our teens as friends and playmates. Tim reported that when he crouched down for any reason, the kids jumped on his back hoping for a piggyback ride.
Giving through hard work
Jose Ortiz has run this project for nine years, out of 30 years spent working in the migrant community. He knows the workers, and he tries to help them in their struggle to improve their lives and the lives of their children.
From the second week in June until the end of August, Jose welcomes the youth groups and hopes to give the teens an opportunity to learn about the poor. Poverty isn't just in other countries. It happens right down the road.
Teens learn that giving includes hard work. They spend their days at the food bank putting together bags of food - each one contains flour, rice, beans and dried ramen - with amounts determined by that week's supply. Beyond staple items, if other donations come in, each bag gets an equal share of sugar, canned food or bottled water.
For our week, crates of cherries and plums sat near the line for picking over, and those families with little ones received "baby bags" containing diapers, formula and food.
This year, someone gave the food bank Easy Mac, a microwaveable macaroni-and-cheese product. A staffer wrote instructions, in Spanish, on how to prepare it without a microwave, and two of our teens spent prep time copying the information to attach to each package.
The actual distribution starts off easily enough. However, after the first hour, the selection dwindles, and instead of cans of beans and tomatoes, we offered double servings of potato flakes or ramen and packages of frozen hot dogs.
Regardless, the teens remain determined and helpful - and energetic. They eagerly learn how to say T-shirt (playera) and soap (jabon) in Spanish so they can offer these "treats" to food-bank visitors.
They invent games or dance steps to keep circulation going in their feet.
Other groups' support
The food bank can operate thanks to the teens' efforts. Even after summer ends, and the teens return to school, donations come in from other teens in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and local school groups.
Jose will remain there, organizing donations and welcoming volunteers.
If you can help, or want to learn more about the project, the phone number is 713-0112.
The work is hard, and yet I heard over and over from teens far from their Xbox and TV sets, "It's a lot of fun!"
Kirby Lindsay returned safely to her dear home in Fremont. She welcomes your comments at fremont@oz.net.
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