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Our People of the Century
Frank Tejeras: Of Tenacity, Courage, Workers' Rights    

Principles, they say, are easier to defend than to live. Frank Tejeras lived his – often at considerable risk.

Tejeras believed in human rights. For all.

Born in Utuado, Puerto Rico, Tejeras braved threats and gunshots alike to see the rights of both immigrant and resident farm workers in South Jersey.

His legendary battles –going into the camps in the dark of the night and taking his cause all the way to the New Jersey Supreme Court–brought medical care and other social services to the workers.

Tejeras worked for the federally funded Southwest Citizen Organization for Poverty Elimination (SCOPE) farm workers program and for Rural Opportunities. On his own time, he helped the workers who couldn’t read or write send letters home to their families in Puerto Rico or Mexico.

Tejeras helped start the Puerto Rican Festival and other Hispanic organizations. He worked with the Puerto Rican Action Committee, the Migrant Ministry and had served on the board of directors of the Vineland YMCA.

He lived the “help one another” creed he taught.

And his work knew neither racial nor ethnic barriers. During the half-century he lived in Cumberland County, he was known as someone who not only would help but also could get the job done.

Everyone went to Tejeras. And no one remembers ever being turned away.

The city of Vineland dedicated a park and playground to his memory in September. Politicians, friends, and city officials told story after story about his work.

After the ceremony renaming the Frank A. Tejeras Park, his daughter Lisa Tejeras-Medina distilled the speeches to their essence.

“No matter what color, who you were, or how much money you had, it didn’t matter. He loved everybody, and everybody loved him.”

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