Last week, the Rubber Rose Boutique and Community Gallery, a lesbian-owned-and-operated sexuality boutique and community space in North Park, in coalition with two immigrant and Latino rights organizations, began collecting donations for migrant workers displaced by the recent San Diego fires.

“We wanted to, one, offer something back to the community but also help the community facilitate that as well. So the day that word came back that the fire had just started up, we kind of sent the word out to all of our customers to give them some kind of outlet to help,” said Carly Delso-Saavedra, co-owner of the Rubber Rose Boutique.

Donations are going to migrant workers and displaced farm workers, who are one of the groups hardest hit by the San Diego fires, said Enrique Morones, founder of Border Angels, whose main mission is to prevent the deaths of immigrants traveling through border areas by assisting them with basic human resources such as food, water and clothing.

Rubber Rose gives donations to Border Angels and the San Diego County Chapter of the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), an organization that fights for the political representation and constitutional protections of Mexican and Hispanic Americans.

Both Border Angels and MAPA of San Diego County began the migrant donation drive last Monday at Chicano Park. Border Angels and MAPA together distribute the donations to various migrant communities.

“[Immigrants] perform many of our State’s most physically laborious jobs, including mowing lawns, cleaning homes and picking fruit, but they receive the lowest wages and have access to the least resources and services, making it very hard for them to survive such natural disasters as the fires,” said Morones.

“Two million undocumented workers living and working in the 24 fire zones stretching from Los Angeles to San Diego were excluded from coordinated evacuation efforts. Their segregation and second-class status kept them ‘off the grid,’” said Justin Akers Chacon citing ABC News in an article posted on socialistworker.org.

Jesus Gomez, an undocumented immigrant, was working at a nursery in North County San Diego when the Witch Fire started approaching nearby. Gomez said that he and his work crew continued working until the police came and forced their boss to evacuate them.

“They gave us masks, but still, our eyes were filling with dirt and ashes. So, we keep working, but then the police came in,” Gomez said to National Public Radio.

“People were driving by in Jaguars and Mercedes, callously ignoring the farm workers, who don’t have cars, papers or anywhere to go,” Morones told Akers Chacon.

Morones brought in a group of doctors to check the migrants’ health; the doctors found many of them to be suffering irritations of the eyes and lungs, said Akers Chacon.

“Many Latino communities are finding it tough to find resources, whether it be just cultural differences. Some of them are documented; some of them are not…. It’s very hard to get the resources that are available to people who have been a part of this culture longer,” said Delso-Saavedra.

Morones said that Border Angels and MAPA have together collected a total of more than 400 truck loads of material donations. The Rubber Rose is one of 100 other organizations that have made contributions said Greg Morales, coordinator for the San Diego County chapter of MAPA.

While Border Angels and the San Diego County chapter of MAPA have focused on obtaining basic human necessities such as food, water and clothing, the Rubber Rose has been focused on obtaining more specific resources for women and children.

“We really wanted to emphasize the needs of women and children in all the fires that were going around. People have donated boxes and bags of tampons and tampads. You know moms went through all their kids’ toys to see what they no longer needed, and the kids came over and donated the stuff themselves,” said Delso-Saavedra.

Donations are still needed. “We desperately need food, water, grocery gift cards and monetary donations,” said Morones.

The Rubber Rose will be accepting donations until 10 p.m. this Friday, Nov. 2. However, Border Angels and the San Diego County Chapter of the MAPA will continue accepting donations throughout the coming months. You can contact Morones at Border Angels at 619-269-7865 or via e-mail at enriquemorones@cox.net for more information and for the most current drop-off locations.