Along with budding leaves
and blooming flowers, this spring there's another crop of
seasonal workers helping to grow the thousands of plants
at one local flower store. They're far from home and they're
filling a big need.
"They come from many different countries. We work with
a couple of organizations," Peggy Schroeder of Schroeder's
Flowers said.
One look at Schroeder's Flowers tells you spring has sprung,
but all this doesn't grow and sell without a lot of help
-- and a chunk of that help is coming from around the world.
"I'm from Kenya," Gerald Murithi said.
Murithi is part of an agricultural exchange program Schroeder's
uses. "I can go train my people back home, in which
not many people have experience about plants," Murithi
tells us.
Schroeder's helps workers find apartments and provides cars.
Peggy Schroeder even holds English classes in her home.
"It helps them get a better job in their own countries,"
she said.
For the students it's the opportunity of a lifetime.
Adriano Blainski said it's not easy for Brazilians like
him to get a ticket to the U.S. "It's so hard to come
here, especially when you want to learn, because of all
the stuff going on around the world."
But after studying plants in college, Blainski found a way
to follow his dream with the agricultural internship at
Schroeder's Flowers.
"I ended up coming to Green Bay. I love it!"
Schroeder's hires about 200 extra employees in the spring
and summer months. This year, 30 of them are from countries
including Brazil and Bulgaria.
"We know they will come to work every day and we can
rely on them," she adds.
While some workers like Blainski plan to use their experience
to eventually become U.S. citizens, others go a different
route. They take what they've learned and bring it back
to their home countries.
"I just work, and after that I take a lot of experience
and I come back in my country," Dama Kuzva from Bulgaria
said.
Both Kuzva and Murithi spent Tuesday planting, pruning,
and watering in the greenhouse.
But this program is not only a great opportunity for the
students, it also provides a much needed part of Schroeder's
business: a seasonal workforce. "It is hard sometimes
to find seasonal workers," Schroeder said.
"It's a nice program for us because, yes, we get people
who are interested in agriculture and furthering their education.
For them it's an internship and for us, yes, we get very
good workers and we learn a lot from them because we learn
all about their country," she said. |
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