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Erickson cherry farm owner defends visiting pickers

You can’t judge a person by what they wear, because they might just be some of the finest people you will ever meet...

To the Editor:

I was in Gleaners today and one volunteer was following around a group of pickers, probably making sure they weren’t going to steal their $2 items. She said to me, “They need to get new clothes,” looking at what she thought were tatters. What I saw was the coolest looking young people’s fashion fare. I said, “That is the fashion. It is all the rage in the young people today.”

I pulled her aside and I told her about the pickers: how they are here working hard, how they get mad if they start late and can be angered when they are made to quit early because of the heat. They are here to work and make money. If we have a day off a lot of them will check with other farmers to see if they need any more workers for the day, because a day off for them is a day without being paid. I told her they are some of the hardest working people she would ever see.

At our camp they are in bed long before we are getting ready to get up and pick at 4:30 a.m. the next day. They are making the most amazing meals in our kitchen — you can smell the curries and the stews, and the wonderful vegetarian and meat dishes — fit for a fine restaurant. We have had doctors and lawyers and nurses take their vacation to come and pick cherries. Many are university students, and many are seasoned pickers who spend their winters in far away places and travelling the globe that some of us only see in our later years. We are told that it is the dream of many young Quebecers to come and pick cherries in B.C. I told her some of them (the really good ones) can make upwards of $500 a day. The pickers, for the most part, are not looking to steal the $2 items; they are shopping in their fashion favorite store where they don’t have to make the new stuff look old.

Just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by its cover or a person by what they wear, because it just might be a fashion statement and they might just be some of the finest people you will ever meet.

Susan Snow

Erickson