Financial Relief - Hurricane Helene

Watsonia Farms is a 4th generation, family-owned farm located in South Carolina. They produce squash (zucchini and yellow squash), peaches, asparagus, strawberries, tomatoes, cucmbers, corn, and more. Watsonia Farms employs mostly migrant workers from Oaxaca, Mexico, through the United States migrant-worker visa program, the H-2A program. Through the H-2A program, foreign agricultural workers are given temporary work authorizations in the United States, that are tied to the employer that sponsors them. In the case of Watsonia Farms, the same crew of workers has been coming to the farm annually, having built a relationship with the farm owners and helping to ensure a reliable and continuous workforce in the context of labor shortages. Once they have finished the season, they return to their home countries. The H-2A program offers disadvantaged communities the opportunity to work in the United States for up to 9 months at a time, allowing them to support their families, and these workers have become reliant on this important source of income.
During Sept 24-27th, 2024 Hurricane Helene caused widespread devastation in South Carolina in 2024. The United States Federal government declared it a major disaster. Strong winds and resulting 21 tornados produced significant tree damage across South Carolina and other adjacent states.
Due to Hurricane Helene, all Watsonia Farms operations stopped for two weeks, and as a result, workers were not earning wages. After the storm, there was such damage to the crops that the workers were sent home earlier than planned, and were deprived of the earnings they had counted on to support their families that year. The General Assembly of workers elected to distribute their premium funds as a bonus, amounting to $29,000 USD, among 145 of the workers (125 H2-A workers and 20 domestic workers), who each received $200 to subsidize their lost wages.
The majority of this damage was due to falling trees caused by strong wind gusts. There were four direct wind deaths in the county, all from falling trees. Flood damage to homes occurred as well.