Edited release
12/24/22
A new pandemic relief program is open in Eastern Iowa for meatpacking plant workers and farmworkers negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Eligible farm and food workers who worked at least one day since January 27, 2020, can apply for a direct cash payment of $600.
Escucha Mi Voz Iowa is the subrecipient of a grant totaling more than $1.35 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to distribute the $600 pandemic relief checks to more than 1,800 farm and food workers.
Reverand Guillermo Trevino Jr. told KGAN TZV that farm and food workers kept the country going during the COVID-19 shutdown, and the aid checks gives those workers a lot of hope. $600 for some people is equivalent to a week’s pay.
The next application clinics will run Monday through Friday from 4-9pm at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Columbus Junction. Iowa City’s clinics were scheduled to run through the 23rd at the Catholic Worker House on South Johnson Street between 9-3pm, but the dates may have been extended due to the extreme weather. Check distribution for the two cities is scheduled to start January 2nd.
West Liberty Application Clinics run January 9-13, 9am-8pm at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Checks there are set to be distributed at the church starting January 13th.
In Washington, Application Clinics and Check Distribution times and sites have yet to be determined but are tentatively scheduled to happen in late January.