Migrant worker ministry gathers in church neighbours

Notes: "An outreach program for migrant farm workers in the diocese of Huron is drawing in interest both from the migrant workers themselves and from members of the community who want to be involved in the church’s charitable work. The Rev. Enrique Martinez, priest for the parish of Long Point Bay and the director of the Huron Migrant Farmworkers Ministry Centre, says it started last year with a budget and a plan to provide weekly meals and support to 100 workers each month, but quickly grew to serve 1,000. This year the program, sustained with funding from nonprofit The Neighbourhood Organization (TNO), ministers to up to 1,500 a month". Martinez "made a trip to Simcoe, Ont. for groceries and saw that the local Food Basics and Walmart were gathering places for migrant workers. ... 'We never imagined that the need is there [for] Spanish-language ministry', he says. 'We never imagined that so many brothers and sisters from another country who come to our country are in need of different things. Not only food, they need support, they need mental health, they need spirituality'. In response, Martinez began work on a program that now provides weekly meals, fellowship, donated clothing and supplies — plus a mid-week Spanish-language church service that attracts 120 people, mostly migrant workers".

Subjects: Huron Migrant Farmworkers Ministry Centre (Tilsonburg, Ont.); Church work with migrant labor - Anglican Church of Canada; Anglican Church of Canada. Diocese of Huron; Martinez, Enrique; Spanish language; The Neighbourhood Organization (Simcoe, Ont.)