Spotlighting UUFH member Ann Backer
By Kitten Bulen & Anne Backer
When Anne Backer and her husband retired about twelve years ago, they decided to return to Anne’s home state of North Carolina. After living and teaching in five Southern states, including twenty-six years in Texas, she was ready for seasonal changes and the beauty of our North Carolina Mountains. The move was based on being close to their children and families and having a Unitarian Universalist Church in the community. They loved Hendersonville and all the wonderful people they met. However, Anne soon realized that she missed the ethnic and cultural diversity of Texas and the other places they had lived. Anne had taught in a Plano High School with students from 150 countries and incomes varying from ultra poor to very rich. She had also served on the Interfaith Board there for many years.
To rectify the lack of diversity in her friends in Hendersonville, Anne began to volunteer and join every group she could find that worked with the homeless, working poor, and immigrants and migrant workers. She served lunches to the homeless and, being a dog and horse owner and lover, she volunteered with the Blue Ridge Humane Society thrift shop, soon filling her home and outbuildings with unsold items to pass on to the homeless. These activities led to her joining a book study of “Heart of Democracy” which involved many Henderson County people who wanted to bring diverse groups together to make our area welcoming and improve the quality of life for all people. This in turn led her to become the Facilitator for “The Heart of Hendersonville Immigration Task Force.” This group, which included Blue Ridge Health, St. James Episcopal Network, El Centro, and True Ridge, searched for ways to help existing organizations fill gaps in the services needed. As facilitator, Anne’s phone started ringing.
The Immigration Task Force worked to try to get the newly elected sheriff not to renew 287g which required his department to work with ICE to deport any undocumented person picked up for any reason, however small. The effort failed, but it fully brought home the LatinX community members’ fear of deportation. Members of the Immigration Task Force joined with other organizations to create emergency help for families left behind, especially when a breadwinner was deported. The fear of deportation lead some in the LatinX community to believe that everyone wanted them gone. This was particularly true of the migrant workers who came in droves to work the apple orchards, fields, packing houses, and nurseries where food and flowers are grown. Henderson County is a premier area in the southeast for apple growing. Without these workers, the economy would be hit hard and our food sources would diminish. Today there are about 40,000 immigrants/migrants in our county.
Three years ago, The Heart of Hendersonville Immigration Task Force joined with the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hendersonville and Heartwood Refuge Center, a Buddhist group, to provide Welcome Bags for 100 migrant workers. For each bag, the youth and adults of each group made cards in Spanish saying, “Welcome and thank you for your hard work.” They signed the cards so they would know that there are individuals in the community that supported and appreciate them. The youth in the Fellowship also packed 100 bags with healthy snacks and hygiene products, the items suggested by the Migrant Education Program staff in our county, it having the task to register qualified youth and families for its program Members of the UU Fellowship and Heartwood helped distribute the bags to migrants in transport trucks, in fields, and factories. It was an eye-opening experience to see dejected migrant faces turn to smiles.
Year two of the Welcoming project brought Calvary Episcopal Church on board. Heartwood added buying 100 air mattresses in addition to the 100 ordered by the Migrant Education Program. The four groups (Task Force, UU Fellowship, Heartwood, Calvary)
donated items for the bags and filled 200 bags this time. Due to Covid-19, the bags had to be distributed by the Migrant Education Program staff. And, of course, Anne’s phone continued to ring as it is she who tirelessly pursued and collected these dollars and donations for our migrants.
This summer, year three, the program exploded as people heard about it and asked to join. New participants include The League of Women Voters, Saint James Episcopal Church, and St. John’s of the Wilderness Episcopal, The First Congregational Church, the Alliance of Progressive Voters, Agudas Israel Congregation, Senior Democrats, and the Gallery at Flat Rock, as well as many other citizens and businesses throughout the county. This outpouring made it possible to provide over 400 Welcome Bags, nearly 400 air mattresses with bedding, clothing, and hygiene products above and beyond items in the bags, as well as bandanas, non-perishable foods and some dishes and kitchen utensils. Due to Covid-19, the items were distributed by Blue Ridge Health and The Migrant Education Program staff.
Recently attention was brought to the lack of services for LatinX youth and their families. The Boys and Girls Club now has a summer program for migrant children and Blue Ridge Community College provides education. In addition to the above donations, enough money was collected to fund a soccer league with balls and shirts. One hundred migrant workers signed up to play, culminating with a Soccer Tournament in July. The donations also provided funding for two fields trips for migrant workers ages 13-22 and a festival with fun activities, music and covid vaccinations. These activities have been developed by the Migrant Education Program, Blue Ridge Health, and True Ridge. Anne was busy helping to collect donations for food and drinks for these activities, as she has always done, so her phone never stopped ringing.
Anne is now ready to bring all contributing individuals and organizations together to form a coalition to share responsibility and planning and manage these evolving programs. This should save $$$, energy, and time. Initially she sent 25-30 emails to interested individuals and organizations. Now she sends 75. Anne’s long range plan includes the goal of providing safe, healthy living quarters for the migrant workers. Currently many of these places are in unsafe and extremely unhealthy conditions. Most workers have no transportation to grocery stores, etc., and are confined to work and home. Most recently, Interfaith Assistance Ministries has begun delivering food to migrant homes each week, a huge step forward!
Anne Backer wants everyone to know that these programs might not have continued without the support of her Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and its members, especially given all the roadblocks put in place by Covid-19 restrictions. However, because of their caring and the good technological work of the minister, staff, and members, we all stayed connected and continued this work with her. And her phone is still ringing.