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Gloria kept telling her doctor, “I needed to get better because I need to feed my kids in June.”
Parishioners at St. Peter’s, Tecumseh—out of which the Gloria and Joe run the program—were in disbelief that she could be ready to resume the feeding program so soon, and they pitched in to help in her recovery.
But Gloria assured anyone who would listen that there was no way she was going to not serve what she has always referred to as her children.
Two months later, on June 15, she was back on the route.
The feeding program provides children of the farmworkers with a meal once a day. This year, the number of children declined to just over 150.
“There are fewer farms operating. A lot of farms gave up. We lost 60 kids in Lenawee County alone,” said Joe Corbitt.
“And food, gas and paper products have shot sky high,” said Gloria, adding that they deeply appreciated the financial support of three Episcopal churches—in Saline, Belleville and Southgate—in pulling together this year’s program.
The feeding program wrapped up in mid-September and the families generally to return to Mexico by mid-November.
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Detroit, MI
The children who live summers on the potato farms near Manchester, Michigan, nearly went without something they’ve grown to count on. Since 2001, Gloria and Joe Corbitt have made certain children of the migrant farmers don’t go hungry. The couple provides over 150 kids with a sack lunch before dusk, just as their parents are coming off the fields.