ROCHESTER (New York) DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE

June 30, 2008

Brockport church helps migrant workers feel welcome

Kate Perry
Staff writer

Tim Martinez arrived in the Brockport area from Honduras 20 years ago as a migrant worker and the people were so friendly he stayed.

Martinez, a Greece resident who now works as a health educator, said finding a good job and meeting his wife also played a role in keeping him here, but he said the welcome in Brockport had a lasting impression on him. He said it has the same effect on other migrant workers that arrive here every year to plant and harvest crops.

"One of the things the migrant workers like about this place besides the good jobs — they have a lot of help. They have the Catholic Church, a migrant education program and the Oak Orchard (Community Health Center)," he said.

The year-round support for workers is highlighted by the annual welcome service or Bienvenida that was held on Sunday. About 200 members of the migrant community — workers and their families — joined community members at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Main Street in Brockport for the service.

The church has a Spanish language mass every week, but Sunday's mass was bilingual, making it a good meeting place for full-time Brockport residents and the workers. The event also included a gathering of area clergy to welcome the workers, a Mexican dance performance by children in traditional garb, and a dinner hosted by the First Baptist Church of Brockport a few doors down.

Grace Carson, president of the Brockport Ecumenical Outreach Committee, said her organization has hosted the event for 19 years to welcome workers, and she sees it as even more important now that national tension about immigration has increased.

Carson said fewer migrant workers come to the region now and the ones who do might feel isolated.

"We do it to make them feel welcome. They live in camps on the farms, and they aren't as integrated into the village as others," Carson said.

This summer, about 1,000 migrants will come to the region to work and live on farms, according to a proclamation read by Brockport Vice Mayor Connie Castaneda.

Among them is Francisco Santiago, 38, his 34-year-old wife Teodora Hernandez and their three children. Santiago lives in Homestead, Fla., when he isn't working in the Brockport area. He moved to the United States from his native Mexico 15 years ago, but he very much lives the life of a migrant worker.

He speaks little English and spends his summer in the fields and orchards tending peaches, apples and cabbage. Using Martinez as a translator, he said the Bienvenida celebration makes his family feel at home in Brockport, where he's worked for six years. He said the welcoming attitude lasts well through the growing season too.

"I like the way they welcome migrant workers here," he said. "This is the only place I know of that has Bienvenida."