Eileen Fisher Supports Former Lake Apopka Farmworkers

In the Winter Park, FL shopping district of Park Ave, there was one window display that veered from the norm. Winter Park’s annual and iconic sidewalk art festival had families out in numbers. While they would typically peruse upscale clothing and products in between art displays , Eileen Fisher’s store front showed off something richer in value. The beautiful Lake Apopka Farmworker Memorial Quilt was hanging in the Eileen Fisher display window, and the store generously donated ten percent of their sales from their Spring Celebration March 19^th to the Farmworker Association of Florida.  Linda Lee, former Lake Apopka muck farmworker and Lake Apopka Farmworker Memorial Quilt maker, had the chance to see the quilt she was instrumental in creating hanging in a store front to be admired.

Dale Slongwhite, author of Fed Up: the High Cost of Cheap Food, attended Eileen Fisher Winter Park’s Spring Celebration and sold copies of the book. The book preserves the stories of many Lake Apopka former farmworkers. These are oral histories that deserve to be remembered, and Ms. Slongwhite’s promotion of these personal interviews in the book is incredibly important. Pictured with Dale Slongwhite is Professor Riecken of Seminole State College, who invites Linda Lee to speak with her students every semester and is a true ally to former Lake Apopka former farmworkers, and the Farmworker Association of Florida.

 We cannot thank Eileen Fisher Winter Park enough! We greatly appreciate their support of the Quilt Project, our upcoming Women to Women Conference in Apopka, and the platform they provided for us to connect with Winter Park community members.