Mission

Feeding the Mind, Spirit, and Body of the farmworking community and our neighbors in need, through opportunities for hunger relief, education, healthcare, and spiritual growth.

About Us

Beth-El Mission began in 1976 when a small group of Cumberland Presbyterians rented a tiny house in Ruskin, Florida and began holding Spanish-language church services for migrant farmworkers. When the families came to worship, their many other needs were obvious: they were usually hungry, often cold in winter, some slept in cars or trucks, many could neither read nor write, and most lived in fear of deportation. In its effort to meet some of those needs, the Mission grew.

Now legally a nonprofit corporation, Beth-El Farmworker Ministry, Inc. has a 27 acre site on U.S. Highway 301 about 20 miles south of Tampa. The Mission serves the rural populations of Hillsborough and Manatee counties. It operates under a covenant agreement among its governing bodies, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Tampa Bay and Peace River Presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

The Beth-El Mission helps farmworkers achieve self-sufficiency through its open opportunities to worship, its extensive educational programs, and the many services it provides to meet basic needs.