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Only In America
The Central Oregon potato crop soon will be In the cellars, and the migrant workers will
go on to another harvest. All over the western states, they are on the move. In the grape
arbors of California. In the bean fields, hop yards and fruit orchards of the Northwest. Even
in the wheat fields and corn lands of the Midwest, and the truck gardens and citrus groves
of the South. i i- 'V
While the adults are busy with the gleaning, the children who are too young to help
are left behind in migrant labor camps. How do they occupy the hours?
In the migrant labor camp at Culver, in Jefferson county, as in many others, a program
of supervision and recreation has been provided, under the direction of church groups and
other volunteers in the area. Children of school age are enrolled in the public schools.
Deaconess Evelyn Seymour, of the Episcopal Missionary District of Eastern Oregon, has just
completed four weeks of migrant ministry in Culver, in oooperation with the Jefferson County
Ministerial Association. Volunteers help with day care and special events.
Church women in Redmond and Madras supplied lunches; those in Bend and Prineville
cookies and snacks for the two-week Bible school. Child care Is provided Monday through
Friday, during working hours of the parents, without cost and "regardless of religion."
Bonfires and outdoor parties were held Sunday and Wednesday nights, with Methodist
Youth of Madras providing refreshments for Wednesday night bonfires, followed by dancing
for teen-agers.
The day programs consist of English lessons for which both children and parents are
eager instructions in health habits, games and other entertainment.
At the peak of its operation, the camp houses about 600 persons 90 of them children.
Some 15 children were enrolled in the nursery, which had an average daily attendance of 1 1.
Their parents, for the most part, are Americans of Mexican descent.
The pictures were taken in the older section of the camp, where family housing units
rent for $20 a week. In another part of the camp, new buildings have been erected.
This was Miss Seymour's first experience in migrant ministry, although she has worked with
mountain people in the Ozarks. She spent eight years at Episcopal Church headquarters in
New York City, has done deaconess work in Virginia, Wisconsin and Kansas, She came to
Oregon last October from Massachusetts, and from here, will go to Lakeview, for parish
work. Y ": ,
Mrs. Raymond Samson of Culver, "Grandma" to the children in the day nursery, was one f
of Miss Seymour's most dependable volunteers. She is seen in the picture below, with one of f
her charges. Miss Seymour, in the deaconess cap designating her calling, appears at upper right.
Photos by Nafe Bull; Text by lla Grant Hopper '
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