PTWF Youth Directors Kirsten and Heather Keleher initiated a project to aid North Carolina seasonal agricultural migrant workers. North Carolina has one of the nation’s largest population of seasonal migrant farm workers. They arrive to work with next to nothing beyond basic living needs. Following the PTWF mantra, Heather and Kirsten have been identifying basic goods needed by these hard working people and building Welcome Packages for them, containing supplies.
“Four years and over 4,400 migrant farm workers served.
Heather and Kirsten Keleher, Pave the Way Foundation’s Youth Directors, founded Migrant Ministry in 2014 to provide Welcome Packages to North Carolina’s migrant farm worker population.
Standing in the shadow of the Vatican in 2013, as Pope Francis spread a message of love transcending all differences and compassion for those who leave their homes in search of better lives, the Keleher family began to ask how they could make a difference in the lives of those a little closer to home. Natives of North Carolina, where the migrant farm worker population is the sixth largest in the United States, Heather and Kirsten found their calling. After meeting Pope Francis with Father Hector LaChapelle through Pave the Way Foundation in February 2015, their mission was solidified.
By organizing drives in churches, schools, neighborhoods, universities, and communities across the state of North Carolina, Migrant Ministry collects items that the migrant farm workers need when they come from Mexico and Central America on crowded buses with limited belongings. Through strategic partnerships, Migrant Ministry has increased the number of farm workers reached every year since its inception.
What will the future bring for Migrant Ministry?
Migrant Ministry strives to reach more than 1,800 men in our 2018-2019 year, expand drives to a larger number of schools and churches, and recruit high school students to become leaders in planning and executing drives in their communities.
Four years later, Migrant Ministry is going strong. We look forward to all that the next four years will bring!”
