Separately, they did significant work on behalf of immigrant farm laborers. Together, Dolores Huerta (pictured) and Cesar Chavez were a force to be reckoned with, founding the National Farm Workers Association in 1962, the forerunner to the United Farm Workers’ Union (UFW). They will be honored again this week in the 21st Annual Dolores Huerta/Cesar Chavez Celebration at Hamlin Middle School, an event put on by Springfield Public Schools and the Springfield Alliance for Equity and Respect (SAfER). Listen to music from Springfield High School’s Mariachi del Sol, singers from Guy Lee Elementary School’s dual-language immersion program and take in a performance from Ballet Folklorico Colibri. A gallery of creative projects from students in Springfield will be included, inspired by the lives of Chavez, who died in 1993, and of Huerta, who is 90 years old, the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 and currently heads the Dolores Huerta Foundation for Community Organizing. The theme of the essays and artwork this year is a quote Chavez is noted for: “If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with them… the people who give you their food give you their heart.”    

The 21st Annual Dolores Huerta/Cesar Chavez Celebration — hosted by Springfield Public Schools, partnering with the Springfield Alliance for Equity and Respect (SAfER) — is 5 pm to 7:30 pm Thursday, April 13, at Hamlin Middle School, 326 Centennial Boulevard in Springfield. FREE.