KEARNEY — He never owned a home or a car. For most of his adult life, he lived on a yearly income of about $6,000.

But on the day of his funeral, 40,000 people marched behind his casket.

Marc Grossman, Chavez’s longtime press secretary, spokesman and personal aide, spoke at the University of Nebraska at Kearney Wednesday night as a part of Cesar Chavez Day.

The day, Chavez’s birthday, recognizes farm workers who still struggle for basic rights.

“The way he treated others was a key to his success,” Grossman said. “He was helping ordinary people do extraordinary things.”

Chavez founded the United Farm Workers Union, which was the first union to gain rights and protections such as fair wages, medical coverage, pension benefits and humane living conditions for farm workers.

Grossman said Chavez’s success came because farm laborers related to him.

Chavez worked as a farm laborer for many years before organizing the union.

“When you were talking to him, it was just you and him and he would look you in the eye,” Grossman said.

Chavez dressed, spoke and acted like the people he was trying to help, Grossman said. He often stayed in the homes of farm workers or supporters when he traveled.

“People would say, ‘Cesar Chavez is kind of like my grandfather, my father, my son. If he can do these things, so can I,’” Grossman said.

Chavez believed that change was possible and adopted the campaign slogan, “Si Se Puede,” which means “Yes We Can.” President Barack Obama later adopted the slogan during his presidential campaign.

Chavez’s career in community organizing began in 1952 when he became director of the Community Service Organization, a Latino civil rights group. He coordinated voter registration drives and rallied against racial and economic discrimination.

In 1962, Chavez left the CSO to form the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers of America.

He had eight children and his wife, Helen, began working as a farm laborer to support the family, Grossman said.

In the beginning, he would talk to hundreds of laborers and convince only a few to join him. But his efforts eventually led to successful strikes and boycotts that resulted in major changes in the agricultural industry.

Grossman said Chavez was adherent to Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Mahatma Ghandi’s philosophies of nonviolent protests.

“Nonviolence was more than just a tactic,” Grossman said. “He thought human life was a precious thing and no one had a right to take it.”

In 1968, Chavez fasted for 25 days to affirm his commitment to the nonviolence movement, Grossman said. According to the Cesar Chavez Foundation Web site, he fasted again in 1972 and in 1988 to highlight the harm pesticides posed to farm workers and their children.

Grossman said the boycotts, which included a boycott against the grape industry in the ’70s, were a way to spread his message.

“It was a way for families to give children a lesson in fundamental justice around the dinner table,” he said.

His union’s efforts eventually led to the 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which remains the only law in the country that protects farm workers’ right to unionize.

Grossman still serves as spokesman for the United Farm Workers of America.