St. Joe Hispanics struggling to survive

Saint Joseph has recently become a cultural melting pot, as more Hispanics move to the area. Those KQ2 spoke to say they just like others in their neighborhood are simply trying to make ends meet. Armando Caraballo Gonzalez and his family are new to Saint Joseph; they live in a small beat up trailer in the Southwest part of town. Like many Hispanics in town they moved to St Joe to work at Triumph Foods. "I like my job, I find my jobs good. I do my job with ribs I pull the ribs. My wife works trimming the ribs," Gonzalez said. He says the work is hard but good paying jobs are hard to come by. Gonzalez heard about the job openings at Triumph Foods by word of mouth and jumped at the opportunity. Cira Chavez de Cardenas and her husband Eustacio moved from Iowa to work at the pork processing company. She said in Spanish, "we came here to work; we don`t want to hurt anyone. We don`t know English because frankly we don`t have time to learn it." Cardenas has worked the fields but says they wanted to find a job that was less physically demanding. And while they say some in Saint Joseph have not received them with open arms they say others in the community have been hospitable. Both Gonzalez and Cardenas say Triumph Foods has been a good employer and they will stay in St. Joseph for as long as they can. "Yeah I stay here for a long time. I dont know how long but I stay here for a little long time," Gonzalez said.