Cultivate Abundance

08/29/2026

This has been a difficult and strange week in Southwest Florida.

At the beginning of the week, a large influx of ICE agents arrived for an immigration enforcement surge, working alongside the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Highway Patrol. Throughout the week, work trucks and landscaping vehicles, construction sites, people on bicycles, and other places where immigrant workers live and work were targeted.

There was widespread concern that Friday would bring increased enforcement activity to Immokalee. Since Friday is our regular food distribution day, we prepared for the worst.

Our scheduled local volunteer team for the afternoon was unable to come, leaving a very small crew to prepare. The streets were unusually quiet, and many people had been advised to stay home. We prepared to distribute food as usual while also making plans to take food to several locations for families who did not feel safe coming out.

But thankfully, the day remained quiet.

Distribution started very slowly. Then, little by little, people began to come. More families arrived. More people ventured back onto the streets. Slowly and cautiously, life began moving again.

When you live close to the edge, you can't simply put life on hold. People still need food. They still need to work and care for their families. They keep going, even when doing so carries risk.

We will keep going, too—adjusting as needed and doing everything we can to make sure fresh, nutritious food remains accessible to the Immokalee community.

08/21/2026

08/21/2026

One more!

08/21/2026

A little joy as we get ready to serve. This group likes to dance! Turn up the volume!

08/19/2026

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Amos 5:24

Adjudicators have taken on roles as so-called deportation judges, while their agency, the executive office for immigration review (EOIR), has become an integral part of the White House’s mass deportation strategy instead of a last defense against wrongful removal.

“They abandon the real mission of the agency, which is to provide fair hearings and due process to as many people as possible, and instead sort of run it as an adjunct of DHS [Department of Homeland Security] enforcement, with the only real objective to be being [able to] enter as many removal orders as you can, as fast as you can,” said Paul Schmidt, a retired immigration judge.

Inside ‘mega master’ calendar hearings, the new tactic of scheduling hearings on short notice and deporting the people who don’t show up

08/15/2026

I usually try to post something on Fridays during food distribution, often a short video or some photos showing how the day is going. I didn't do that yesterday. It has been another very hard week in Immokalee and the surrounding areas, with aggressive immigration enforcement taking dozens of people.

The day started with a colleague transporting a 3-year-old U.S. citizen with special needs to reunite with her mother at the Fort Lauderdale airport for a deportation flight. The day ended with at least 100 of our usual community families missing from food distribution. People are too scared to leave home, even for food.

So, I don't have a nice photo from yesterday. Here is one to remind you what it takes to put food on your table.

If you eat, thank a farmworker.

08/11/2026

We have exciting news to share!

Cultivate Abundance is honored to have been awarded a $10,000 General Operating Support grant from the Collier Community Foundation.

General operating support may not sound exciting, but it is one of the most meaningful investments a nonprofit can receive. It gives us the flexibility to respond where the need is greatest and strengthens the foundation that makes all of our work possible.

Because of this grant—and the generosity of our wider community—we can continue growing, collecting, and sharing fresh, nutritious, culturally preferred food with Immokalee’s farmworker families.

We are deeply grateful to the Collier Community Foundation for its confidence in our mission and for investing in our community.

Thank you to everyone who makes this work possible. We couldn't do it without you.

Photo courtesy of Lisette Morales.

08/07/2026

08/05/2026

Last night, our Immokalee community experienced another deeply troubling series of immigration enforcement actions.

Armed immigration officers moved through neighborhoods detaining people who were walking or riding bicycles. Witnesses described officers rushing individuals, pinning them against walls, taking their belongings, and placing them in handcuffs before they had an opportunity to speak. At least a dozen members of our community were taken. One particularly disturbing account describes an officer drawing a fi***rm on a minor whose only "offense" was witnessing what was happening.

These are not strangers to us. They are our neighbors, parents, coworkers, church members, and the farmworkers whose labor helps feed our nation. They are human beings deserving of dignity and due process.

Cultivate Abundance believes that every person bears the image of God and should be treated with respect, regardless of immigration status. We will not be silent when fear becomes a daily reality for the people we serve. The methods being used to carry out these arrests are causing profound trauma throughout our community—not only for those detained, but for their children, families, friends, and neighbors.

We stand with the people of Immokalee. We reject fear as a tool of governance and affirm the dignity and worth of every human life. We will continue to serve our neighbors with compassion, to bear witness to what is happening, and to advocate for a community where justice, mercy, and humanity prevail.

Please keep Immokalee in your prayers, especially the families who woke up today wondering where their loved ones have been taken and what tomorrow will bring.