International Workers Day is May 1. This year, with the pandemic, many more of us have become more grounded in the reality of essential workers or front-line workers. One among the many thousands of essential worker stories is taken from an article, Standing in Harm’s Way- Essential Workers on the Front Lines of COVID-19 by Joan Morris.

“Candice Elder, age 36, founded the East Oakland Collective 4.5 years ago. When she founded the collective, she wanted to focus on racial and economic development in the area where she’s lived all her life. When the pandemic hit, she found herself on the front lines to keep people fed and healthy. Providing 100 meals a week, now she shares 1000 meals with the under-served senior and disabled being served. She and her staff scramble to provide food, snack bags, sanitary and hygiene kits. “We’re taking more risk,” Elder says, “but people need to be fed, and I’m doing what I feel compelled to do.”

Elder is a diabetic who works eight to twelve hours a day every day. The collective had expanded its hours to include providing help on weekends. She is concerned for her health, and outside of work, she’s been self-isolating to avoid passing the virus to family and friends. She worries more for her staff, volunteers and the people the collective serves.”

Likely, we know of many on the essential workers in our local communities. May first is also the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. It is in Joseph that we can find that which gives essential or front-line workers their strength. Joseph heard God’s call and responded with deep love in putting aside his own ways and seeking to meet the needs of others, namely, Mary and Jesus. Joseph, by example, was supporting the mission of Jesus. Joseph sought no profit but rather to be a co-creator with God for the common good of humanity. Pause and reflect upon how essential workers “mirror” Joseph.

Another group integrated into many of the above professions, though more vulnerable due to their status in specific countries is that of migrants. These individuals are often the least paid and perform the riskiest jobs. In India, some migrants have walked home for days with others receiving food from generous groups.  In the United States, migrants who work the front lines in food processing factories are expected to be at work despite the fact that they work physically close and without protection. Right now, most of the food Americans eat is farmed, cooked, processed, and packaged by undocumented workers. In fact, an estimated 70 percent of the essential workforce in farms is undocumented. Testing, as with many areas in the United States, is minimal and thus does not occur until known cases show up.

COVID-19 has brought essential and front-line workers to the forefront of our reflections and will likely continue as we progress through this pandemic. Reflecting upon their deep love present in service, may we ask ourselves how our life also reflects deep love for them in their role to protect us. Created in God’s image and in the way of St. Joseph, may we find ways to be supportive of each other and advocate for what is best for them – detaching from our ways.

Joetta Venneman

Sisters of Charity of Nazareth

Office of Social and Environmental Justice