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On Christmas Eve, Tamara Dursely’s family and friends were planning to come over for dinner.

But after months of work as the benefit coordinator for Syracuse’s Eastern Farm Workers Association, Dursely realized she had no food for her guests and little means of getting any.

“I need help, and I need help now,” Dursely said.

Dursely called Stacy Battista, the operations manager for EFWA, who immediately gathered a box of food for Dursely. This, in essence, is exactly what EFWA does, Battista said.

“On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, who’s out there to really help you at the last minute?” Dursely said. “There’s no one besides them who will jump up and run for you.”

EFWA is a volunteer-based organization that offers a wide range of services to farm-based and other types of low-income workers, Battista said. The association offers food and other supplies to people who need them and helps improve access for individuals struggling to navigate health care and housing.

Many of the issues EFWA’s members face stem from a lack of income, Battista said. They often have their lights and heat shut off, are on the verge of getting evicted and don’t have enough food or access to medical care, she said.

“Our goal is to unite all of these workers in central New York together so that we can gain the controlling stake in what happens to us in our lives, in our livelihoods,” Battista said. “Currently, we are unable to make many of the decisions.”

During the pandemic, EFWA has expanded its emergency and supplemental food distributions, Battista said. Many of the supplies it offers members come from donations from the surrounding community.

“If you really speak to the needs of the community, you can show people the common ground that they have with our membership,” Battista said. “The pandemic has made this very much clearer in people’s minds.”

The organization also helped its members sign up to receive COVID-19 vaccines when eligibility expanded, Battista said.

As soon as vaccine rollout began, Battista started monitoring the state’s eligibility requirements and coordinating rides to the New York State Fairgrounds, one of the main vaccination sites in Onondaga County.

The association also provides resources for its members, no matter how big or small their request is.

EFWA member Cheryl Darby said the association has helped her put food on the table and provided her with other household supplies. When Darby needed a vacuum cleaner, she was able to find one at the EFWA headquarters rather than going to buy one, she said.

Stacy Battista (left) and Tamara Dursely offer a wide-range of resources to low-income and farm-based workers through Syracuse’s Eastern Farm Workers Association. Lucy Messineo-Witt | Asst. Photo Editor

The association collects backpacks and other school supplies to distribute and donates Christmas gifts and Easter baskets to families who can’t afford to buy them for their children, she said.

The pandemic was especially difficult for people who weren’t used to having limited resources or income, Battista said.

“For those who had resources, they found themselves maybe for the first time in that position where they realized that their life was in danger and that this was a societal problem,” she said.

Hanna Martin, a senior at Syracuse University majoring in magazine journalism, writing and rhetoric and citizenship and civic engagement, first learned about EFWA when a representative spoke during her advanced argumentative writing class freshman year. She later began volunteering for the association and said it widened her understanding of the community surrounding SU.

“I met a lot of people during my time there,” Martin said. “And it was not just graduate students, not just undergraduate students, but elderly people who live in Syracuse and people who are just there volunteering. It was really amazing.”

One of the biggest struggles for EFWA is securing volunteers, Martin said. When she volunteered, she made cold calls and canvassed parts of the city to educate others about the association and look for volunteers.

Volunteers need no prior experience to work with EFWA, and the organization provides on-site training, Dursely said.

“The only qualifications that we have are that you care and are willing to work,” she said.

Asst. News Editor Maggie Hicks contributed reporting to this story.

Published on April 21, 2021 at 10:00 pm

Contact Kailey: kmnorusi@syr.edu