Automobile Caravan Rolls into Rhinebeck Shining Spotlight on Immigrants’ Role on New York Farms
“If our farmworkers are not there, we won’t have businesses,” said Wilmer Jiménez, the chief program officer for the Rural and Migrant Ministry, a statewide group that works with rural and farmworking families. “Who is going to milk your cows? And who is going to pick your apples?”
As the federal government rounds up immigrants both nationally and locally, an automobile caravan led by the nonprofit Rural and Migrant Ministry arrived in Rhinebeck Monday to tell a different story about the foreign-born who live among us.
The caravan, which is traveling from East Hampton, Long Island to Buffalo, is stopping at towns and cities along its 1,000-mile journey to highlight the contributions of immigrants to New York’s rural economy and agricultural sector. The goal is to foster appreciation of immigrants and emphasize their humanity.
Scenes on the Street
Prior to arriving in Rhinebeck, the caravan stopped at the New Paltz United Methodist Church and the Old Dutch Church in Kingston.
The 20-plus cars in the caravan rolled into Rhinebeck around 2:30 pm. Supporters lined Montgomery Street to greet the procession as it filed into the parking lot of Rhinebeck’s Episcopal Church of the Messiah. Once in the lot, around 80 people, including caravan participants and supporters, listened to leaders from the Rural and Migrant Ministry and other allied groups.
The Rev. Mary Gregorius, the interim rector at the Church of the Messiah, offered an ecumenical prayer and explained the purpose of the gathering. “This is a rural community,” she said. “We depend on our seasonal workers and on the people who come to help us in order to get our crops out of the field and into the stores.”
The caravan is running from Aug. 2 through Aug. 9th and has the support of several co-sponsor organizations, including the New York State Catholic Conference, the Episcopal Diocese of New York, and the Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation. The Rural and Migrant Ministry was founded in 1981 by multiple denominations, including the Diocese.
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