AUGUSTA — A center that provides resources for migrant workers employed in Maine during the blueberry harvest opens this week.

The Rakers’ Center will open Aug. 1. It opens every year to offer services for the 1,000 migrant and seasonal farm workers employed in Maine during the peak of the blueberry-picking season.

At the center, migrant farm workers and their families can get legal and employment advice, medical care and information on educational resources for their children. The center also has a food pantry.

Maine leads the rest of the country in wild blueberry production. Last year, 91.1 million pounds of blueberries were harvested in Maine, the second-highest level on record.

The center is on Epping Road in Columbia next to Columbia Town Hall.


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