Young adults volunteer to assist migrants

“Shocking,” “eye-opening,” and “inspirational” are only a few of the words used by members of St. Joseph Parish, Hillsborough, to describe their recent service trip to McAllen, Texas.
The group, which consisted of 17 young adults (including myself) and five chaperones, travelled to the southern border city in response to the growing immigration crisis there, and the humanitarian problems it entails. When asked about the young adult ministry’s trip, Father [Francis] Hank Hilton, pastor, St. Joseph Parish, said, “Traveling to serve the worlds’ most vulnerable people – the migrants whom God is forever telling us to tend – can be an exceptionally grace-filled experience.  I recommend it for just about anyone who can handle the rigors. Given all that, I was delighted that our young people would be making a service pilgrimage. And of course, worrier that I can sometimes be, I was a little nervous. Clearly, it was a remarkably grace-filled experience for the participants.” Working at both the Humanitarian Respite Center for legal migrants, and a local Catholic church preparing for its dedication Mass, our trip to the border was as much about serving the destitute as it was about spreading compassion, tenderness, and humanity to a place that is in desperate need of all three.
On our first day of service, all members of the group arrived at the Respite Center to find it understaffed and overwhelmed. For our first experience in McAllen, this came as an incredible shock: walking into the shifting sea of desperate, tired, and worn faces was immediately disorienting. As we maneuvered through the crowd to find one of the few regular staff members, we passed through seemingly endless lines of people, careful not to step on the exhausted families sprawled out on mats across the ground. Eventually, we were all scattered around the building to help wherever we were needed. Some of us were sent to the “pharmacy” counter to hand out hygienic products, some kept order at the showering stations, and others distributed clean clothing to the migrants to replace what their long journey had left dirty and disheveled. Sometimes, a portion of our group would work in the warehouse as well, sorting through the donations that allow the center to provide for so many migrants every day. One volunteer, Emily Lanahan, mentioned that “Seeing so many of the immigrants wearing the shirts that were donated by our parish was very eye-opening. It showed me how every donation counts.”
No matter what our responsibility at the Respite Center was, it always felt urgent and important, as if the well-being of the massive crowd was dependent on us. Consequently, leaving at the end of the day was always a challenge. Marc Acocella, a member of our team, stated how “Everyone in our group wanted to stay and felt guilty about leaving, which was an amazing sign of how much we loved the work and the people.” Another volunteer, Stephanie Wickman, noted, “By the end of the week the center felt like home and each day it got harder and harder to walk away at night.”
While working at the Respite Center, I received the special opportunity to interview one of the migrants: a man and his young daughter from Honduras who was travelling to family in Virginia. Due to the terrible living conditions in Honduras, combined with a lack of jobs, they faced the choice of either fleeing their home or living in destitution. So, they travelled through Central America for 20 days, jumping from one bus to anotherand trudging along on foot when necessary. He mentioned that while passing through Mexico, the police were vicious and threatening, assaulting and robbing them for the little money they carried on their person. Clearly, their journey was a struggle, and they wore it on their clothes, on their faces, and in their voices, but under it all was a glimmer of hope. They had made it. Now, the main dreams of reaching Virginia and earning money as a construction worker, sending some home to support the wife and special needs daughter he was forced to leave behind. He plans to eventually save enough to afford to apply for a Visa and bring them to America as well, rescuing them from the poverty and violence he was blessed to escape. While this is only the story of one man, it rings true for almost every immigrant at the Respite Center, and is the reason we feel compelled to serve there.
The other site our group volunteered at was San Juan Diego Church  — one of four of St. Anne Parish, Peñitas, Texas — that had recently been built entirely from donated materials in El Flaco (Citrus City). The church, constructed in the poorest section of the Diocese of Brownsville near the border, was absolutely breathtaking, a stark contrast to working at the Respite Center. Father Michael Montoya, pastor, St. Anne Parish, described the mission church as a “miracle,” noting how building such a spectacular structure in such a poor area shows how everyone deserves the chance to worship God with beauty.
Additionally, Sister Ann Hayden, who had accompanied us for a portion of our trip, said, “The beginning of building the dream of the San Juan Diego community of faith was clearly grand, and it is hard to believe that less than three years later, their dream is about to be blessed and anointed into a reality, built of concrete, metal, marble, stained glass, sweat, generous gifts and deeply unifying ritual and prayer.”
While at the church, group members would organize and polish pews, sweep floors, clean cabinets, and engage in plenty of other tasks to help prepare for its dedication Mass that upcoming Sunday. However, while most hours were spent working, many were spent connecting with the local Catholic community, learning how recent political developments in the area affect the people that live along the border. As a result of the immigration crisis, tensions at the border are high for immigrants and legal citizens alike. For example, many parishioners had some form of unpleasant experience with border patrol despite being U.S. citizens, while others had been fully apprehended and detained. Furthermore, the advent of a border wall would only further complicate the lives of these parishioners, many of whom frequently cross the border to visit family residing only a few miles to the South. Other citizens would find themselves inconvenienced by a barrier that cuts through their property, or separates them from their livelihood and place of work. It seemed as if a border wall would only worsen the situation of the poor residing in the McAllen area, making their lives harder in a multitude of ways.
Overall, our mission trip taught me, as well as many other group members, how complicated the political situation along the border really is. Nevertheless, it seems as if the immigration crisis is more urgently humanitarian than it is political, as people flock to the United States to escape poverty, violence, and fear, all of which were visible on the faces of the migrants we met.
Danny Esposito, another group member from St. Joseph’s, noted how he “never thought an experience could be so shocking and heartbreaking, while also being so inspirational and rewarding at the same time,” a statement that rings true for all of our volunteers.
Travelling to the border broadened our view of a major political issue facing the country today, as well as reaffirmed the belief that these migrants are innocent people who are in great need of help, and we are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to help them.
Atlas was one of the young adults from St. Joseph Parish who participated in the service trip.