Hello neighbors & friends!

Please join us to celebrate the groundbreaking progress of the Milk with Dignity Program with an evening of local food, drink, and music. All proceeds will go directly toward supporting the Milk with Dignity Standards Council's work ensuring farmworkers' human rights in the Vermont dairy industry.

Tickets & Full details at: www.milkwithdignityevent.org

Ticket prices are on a sliding scale (pay what you can afford). The ticket price includes:

Food prepared by some of Burlington's best chefs:
Cara Chigazola-Tobin, Honey Road
Maura O'Sullivan, Penny Cluse
Molly Stevens, Cookbook Author
Luke Stone, The Hindquarter
Tamales provided by All Souls Tortilleria, with salsas provided by Taco Gordo
Shacksbury cider & Switchback beer & Aqua Vitae by donation
Ben & Jerry's Ice cream

Music: live performances by:
Maiz Vargas Sandoval & Hugo Martinez Cazon
Eric George
Ella Puede

Silent Auction: featuring local artists:
Ashley Loper
Jon Portman
Erica Baptiste
Dan Brenton
Vincent Morano
Rory Shamlian

The Issue:
Often overlooked amidst the struggles on Vermont's dairy farms in this era of extremely low milk prices are the conditions facing the migrant farm workers who make up a majority of the workforce of Vermont's 700 dairy farms. Many dairy workers are exposed to dangerous working conditions with low wages, long work days, and overcrowded, unlivable housing that creates an environment conducive to trafficking and forced labor. This has gotten even worse as the current political situation has increased the presence of immigration enforcement in Vermont and around the country.

The Solution:
The Milk with Dignity Standards Council is a Vermont based non-profit implementing Migrant Justice's groundbreaking human rights program. The mission of the organization is to monitor the development of a sustainable dairy industry that advances the human rights of farm workers, the long term interests of farmers, and the ethical supply chain concerns of consumers and retail food companies through the implementation of their program. Milk with Dignity includes financial incentives from buyers at the top of supply chains to support farmers' commitment to build participatory, fair, and dignified workplaces for dairy workers in Vermont. The organization is focused on the human rights of the farmworkers that produce our food.

Since the implementation of the Milk with Dignity Program began in February 2018, the Milk with Dignity Standards Council's team of four has ensured that participating farms have made over $800,000 in improvements to farmworkers' living and working conditions, including over $500,000 in wage raises and bonuses distributed directly to workers. This is still only the beginning, and the biggest changes--safe mechanisms for farmworkers to raise their voices, objective investigations, and prompt resolutions so that rights become a reality--cannot be expressed through monetary figures.

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