UFCW Canada Migrant Workers Scholarship Recipient Danica Caluza

Toronto – August 10, 2013 – UFCW Canada is giving migrant workers and their families hope for a better future through the 2013 Migrant Workers Scholarship program, which offers twenty $500 union scholarships to the family members of migrant workers.

The twenty recipients of the 2012 UFCW Canada Migrant Workers Scholarship are a diverse group of young people from the Global South, ranging in age from six to twenty-four years old. They are attending school in Guatemala, the Philippines, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Kenya, El Salvador, and Mexico. The winners’ family members are Temporary Foreign Workers who work on farms, in food processing plants and grocery stores, and as live-in caregivers in Canada.

DIRECTIONS is currently profiling the winning children and their families and sharing their compelling stories with UFCW Canada members and our social justice allies.

Danica Caluza and her mom, Febelyn

Febelyn came to work in Montreal in June 2010, leaving her husband and three children in the Philippines. She decided to work in Canada as a live-in caregiver under the TFWP so that she could apply for permanent residency and eventually bring her family to Canada. Febelyn has been working for the same family for three years and has a good relationship with them. She has applied for permanent residency now that she has met the criteria for doing so.

Febelyn nominated her daughter, Danica Caluza, for a UFCW Canada Migrant Workers Scholarship. At fourteen years old, Danica attends high school and is thankful to be selected as a recipient of the union scholarship. She said that she will continue to work hard to finish her studies and reach for her goals in life. She will use the money for her expenses and fees for school.

"Your generosity is accepted with extremehonour. You have lightened my financial burden, which allows me to focus on learning," says Danica. "I hope one day I will be able to help students achieve their goals in the same way that you have supported me."

To find out more about the UFCW Canada Migrant Workers Scholarship program, visit the union scholarship website today.