Dear Family and Friends,

This summer I have the opportunity to work with an organization called Student Action with Farmworkers, a successful non-profit in Durham dedicated to advocating for the rights of migrant laborers. I have been offered the Into the Fields Internship, both a tremendous honor and responsibility. Centered in Kinston, NC, I work with Lenoir and Greene County Public Schools in the Migrant Education Program to offer English as a second language classes to out of school youth. 

Most of the participants I'm teaching are Latino farmworkers my age who came to the USA in search of economic opportunity. They are consistently some of the most amiable, hardworking, and sincere people I've encountered. I'm grateful for the work they do, for crops would rot in the fields without them, and they are grateful for the work I do as an educator. I feel that I am making a difference in their lives since, for them, English represents a way to assimilate into society and further prosper.

The internship comes at great cost to the organization sponsoring me - through the selection process, training, housing, support staff, per diem, etc. Therefore, SAF requests each intern offset a fraction of the investment by individual, grassroots fundraising. That's where you come in! I'm requesting a donation that will support my efforts this summer as well as the greater farmworker social justice movement. 

You can send your tax deductible donation, paid to the order of Student Action with Farmworkers or SAF (federal taxpayer ID#: 56-1789014), to my address, 1010 Homer Street, Durham, NC 27707, or directly to SAF at 1317 W. Pettigrew Street, Durham, NC 27705. Just remember to write my name on the memo line! You can also receive instant gratification via donation online here.

Thank you for your support and I will update you as to the work I'm doing later in the summer!

Michael Cohen Cunningham

Edit (Saturday, July 12, 2014): Wow! Your generosity has surpassed my wildest expectations. Thank you all for helping me reach my ambitious goal of $1,500 for SAF. So, as not to dissuade those of you who have not already donated from donating, I have raised the goal to $2,000. ¡Si se puede!

Edit (Saturday, July 26, 2014): And it continues! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I've upped the goal again to $2,500. ¡Si se puede!

About Michael:

Originally from Durham, Michael is going into his senior year at Middlebury College in Vermont where he studies Middle East Politics and Arabic. When he's not in the library he's either rowing with the crew team, singing with “The Bobolinks” a cappella ensemble, or tap dancing in his room.