Migrant Center kitchen, bunkhouse construction complete
The Community Action Board of San Benito County hosted a ribbon
cutting ceremony Oct. 22 for the new bunk house and kitchen
facility at the San Benito Migrant Center on Southside Road.
The bunk house adds 24 new rooms that each house four beds and
according to the center manager Tony Diaz, they were much needed.
The older buildings on site had tin walls and roofs.
Migrant Center kitchen, bunkhouse construction complete
The Community Action Board of San Benito County hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony Oct. 22 for the new bunk house and kitchen facility at the San Benito Migrant Center on Southside Road.
The bunk house adds 24 new rooms that each house four beds and according to the center manager Tony Diaz, they were much needed. The older buildings on site had tin walls and roofs.
“In summers, it would get up to 120 degrees,” he said. “In winter, it got so cold it would drip (condensation.)”
The site is used by migrant workers throughout the year and part of the facility is leased out to the Homeless Coalition during the winter months. The idea to improve the kitchen and add a new bunkhouse came about eight years ago.
“There is a display with a little bit of information, and before and after photos,” said Robert Scoles, a member of the Community Action Board. “The before was pretty bad.”
The improvements were funded with a community development block grant and a Farm Worker Housing grant.
Scoles talked a bit about Joe Serna, a farm worker who became a civil rights activist and mayor of Sacramento.
“Before he died he said, ‘I was supposed to live and die as a farm worker, not as a mayor and a college professor,'” Scoles said during an introduction at the ribbon cutting ceremony. “I hope we provide opportunities and services to people so they may rise above their current situation.”
San Benito County Supervisor Pat Loe, a member of the Community Action Board, said the project had been in the works for a long time.
“Anyone who says government doesn’t work, I say look at this,” she said. “It just takes four or five times longer than you think it will.”
She thanked many of the agencies involved in the project along the way. They include the Community Action Board, the Farm Bureau, the county Health and Human Services Agency, the county Public Works and more.
Greg Swett, the president of the San Benito County Farm Bureau, talked of the impact of the new buildings.
“Our workforce is changing,” he said. “It’s not where people move in and out as much. It’s more long term. These facilities give that stability.”
He added that the San Benito County Migrant Center is described as one of the nicer ones in California.
“It’s called the Hilton in the fields,” he said. “We want to make sure the facility stays the way it looks today.”
A representative from Congressman Sam Farr’s office delivered a proclamation and Assemblywoman Anna Caballero talked about the importance of stable housing on health.
Diaz added that the kitchen facilities give the residents a choice to eat on site or off site, if they choose. They have a cook on staff.
“Most of the equipment didn’t work,” he said of the old kitchen. “Now everything is brand new.”
