empowering farmworkers to improve their living and working conditions since 1981

The Shelley Davis Memorial Fund

Newsletters - Spring 2009 Newsletter

When Shelley died, 2.5 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers lost one of the smartest, toughest and most effective advocates they have ever had. Shelley devoted more than 20 years, most of them at Farmworker Justice, to bettering the lot of perhaps this country's poorest and most overlooked workers.

Shelley's family and colleagues believe that the best way to honor her memory is to make sure her work continues. Thus we have created the Shelley Davis Memorial Fund, whose long-term goal is to endow a permanent attorney position at Farmworker Justice.

Shelley's thirty-year career as an attorney demonstrated her passionate belief in society's moral imperative to protect people whose civil and workplace rights are ignored or trampled on. No group of workers needs such protections more than farmworkers.

Shelley's brilliant legal, advocacy and leadership skills, her strategic sense, her expertise on issues affecting farmworkers, her tirelessness - all helped Farmworker Justice secure and then advance our national reputation for excellence and impact.

Even as we mourn Shelley, Farmworker Justice has renewed our commitment to the standard of excellence she displayed in all her efforts on behalf of farmworkers. That commitment includes developing the long-term financial stability required to attract attorneys of Shelley's caliber.

The Shelley Davis Memorial Fund is a vital element in this plan. The Memorial Fund's purpose is to continue, on a long-term basis, Shelley's high-impact legal advocacy on behalf of America's farmworkers.

We ask you to make a tax-deductible donation to the Shelley Davis Memorial Fund to carry on Shelley's work on behalf of the nation's farmworkers. Checks may be mailed to Shelley Davis Memorial Fund, Farmworker Justice, 1126 16th Street, N.W., Suite 270, Washington, D.C. 20036. Farmworker Justice is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. You may donate online with a credit card at www.farmworkerjustice.org, where you will find out more about Farmworker Justice and the Shelley Davis Memorial Fund. Thank you.