Refugees, Greed, and Corporate Abuse: Documentary Film Deeply
Resonates with Today's Headlines.
The Paradox of Seabrook Farms: Shattered Dreams, Restored Hopes
Thursday April 9, 2026 at 7:00 pm
Melrose UU Church, 70 W. Emerson St, Melrose

As part of the church’s Thoughtful Thursday program, the Fellowship Committee will host the screening of the film, The Paradox of Seabrook Farms, on 4/9 starting (promptly) at 7:00 pm. We are honored to welcome award-winning independent documentary filmmaker Helga Merits, from The Hague, Netherlands, who will lead a panel discussion with Q A following the film. Other panelists include three individuals
who grew up at Seabrook Farms.

What occurred in the small community of Seabrook Farms in southern New Jersey post WW2 is a universal story of hope and new beginnings about refugees and immigrants who came with nothing and left with opportunities. The Paradox of Seabrook Farms captures their true-life stories of survival and perseverance and reflects the struggles for freedom from war and oppression that are still in today’s headlines from around the world.

In the 1950’s Charles Franklin Seabrook created the largest vegetable farm and food processing plant in the world. But he needed cheap labor, and historical developments provided him with plenty — Black families fleeing the Jim Crow South, Japanese families recovering from World War II internment, and refugees from Nazi and Soviet oppression fleeing Eastern Europe, including many from the Baltic countries looking to
restart their lives as American citizens, free from oppression and discrimination. He exploited these desperate people, but also created a kind of hardscrabble, multicultural enclave that those who lived there as children recall with affection. At its peak, Seabrook employed 5,000 workers from 25 countries, speaking 30 different languages.

Working at Seabrook Farms meant seven-day weeks with ever changing shifts, work that was both physically and mentally draining. In spite of all the hardships they still found ways to keep their cultural traditions and create new possibilities for their children.

The film is being offered free of charge and is open to the public. Light refreshments will be served afterward.
Website: https://www.meritsproductions.com/projects/the-paradox-of-seabrook-farms

Thoughtful Thursday programs are held at the Melrose UU Church on the second
Thursday of each month on a variety of topics of interest. Each of the Thoughtful
Thursday programs are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend.

MUUC holds hybrid church services on Sundays at 10:30 am led by the Reverend Dr. Susanne Intrilligator.  In-
person services are held in the church sanctuary along with religious education classes for children and childcare
for little ones younger than 3 years old. Services are shared concurrently, live, and online, using Zoom. The link
to join weekly services by Zoom can be accessed by clicking the MORE button under the service description
listed on the homepage at melroseuu.org.

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