TAMPA, Fla. — While some are receiving government help from FEMA after the hurricanes, there are some people who aren’t eligible, including H2A farmworkers.

This Thanksgiving season, volunteers and farmers are showing their appreciation for the work they’ve put in after the recent storms. 

For volunteer Reyna Figueroa, it’s all hands on deck in the kitchen when it comes to preparing a home-cooked meal. However, this meal isn’t for her family.

What You Need To Know

  • Mathis Farms partnered with community volunteers to give back to farmworkers
  • Farmworkers faces hardships post hurricanes and volunteers are giving to them after those challenges
  • More than 100 farmworkers received a warm Thanksgiving meal

Instead, it’s a meal that will feed more than 100 H2A farmworkers.

“They need to feel that we care, and you know it is around the holiday time, Thanksgiving, we appreciate all the work they’ve done for the season and after a rough season with the storms and stuff, they definitely deserve it,” said Figueroa.

Figueroa says after the hurricanes, many of the workers were left without electricity and water, but through it all, they still went to work.

So, she decided to feed them — initially, a meal was cooked that fed 80 people. Now, with the help of her sister, they’re volunteering their time by whipping up a traditional Thanksgiving meal for even more.

“I understand how backbreaking it is, especially seeing them and how they work so hard and how they’re there all hours of the day, sunrise to sunset,” she says.

Thanks to Mathis Farms, Figueroa can bring this Thanksgiving feast to them.

A spokesperson says many of the workers are there to provide financial support for their families back home and that means they’re gone for months at a time, even during the holidays.

“We depend on the H2A people, they come and work for us every season and they help us, so with their help we replant everything, we recover all the plastic, and they help us to rebuild the farms,” said Sara De Los Santos with Mathis Farms.

Figueroa says the warm smiles she sees after a meal make it all worthwhile.

“It just makes me feel great seeing them here and they’re finally ready to eat, and it makes me feel really good and warm inside and happy that they’re able to experience a Thanksgiving dinner here.”

Figueroa says even after the devastating storms, the workers are doing their part to keep food on everyone’s table and she enjoys being able to make sure they have food on theirs.

Mathis Farms says it will be providing the workers a Christmas meal as well.