LODI A peregrinacion – a religious pilgrimage – to honor the memory of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez will begin on Sunday, June 1 at St. Anne’s Church in Lodi. Family members, United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez and farm workers from across the state will take part.
The peregrinacion will arrive at the State Capital in Sacramento on Wednesday, June 4 where a prayer vigil will be held.
Maria collapsed on May 14 while working for Merced Farm Labor in a vineyard owned by West Coast Grape Farming outside of Stockton, CA. Maria worked for nine hours in temperatures that reached 101 degrees. According to witnesses, the labor contractor failed to provide shade and cool drinking water for several hours. She died on May 16. Her body temperature was 108.4 degrees when she was finally taken to a hospital nearly two hours after collapsing.
The labor contractor had been cited in 2006 for violations of the state’s heat regulation which were signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2005 at the urging of the UFW following the deaths of three farm workers due to the heat.
Peregrinacion Route:
Sunday, June 1:
Depart: St. Anne’s Church, 215 W. Walnut St., Lodi, CA; following the 12:30 p.m. Mass
Arrive: St. Christopher’s Church, 950 S. Lincoln Way, Galt, CA
Monday, June 2:
Depart: St. Christopher’s Church, Galt at approximately 8 a.m.
Arrive: Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel, 8544 Oak St., Thornton, CA.
Tuesday, June 3:
Depart: Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel, Thornton at approximately 8 a.m.
Arrive: St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 7595 Center Parkway, Sacramento
Wednesday, June 4
Depart: St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, approximately 8 a.m.
Arrive: State Capital, Sacramento at approximately noon.
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