From the basement of a Bay City church, Irma Guzman is a champion for migrant workers.
Guzman, who was a migrant worker herself as a teen, coordinates volunteers for a migrant pantry through the
Catholic Diocese of Saginaw Office of Multicultural Ministry.
In the basement of the St. Boniface campus of
All Saints Parish, 500 N. Lincoln St., the volunteers led by Guzman sort and distribute donated clothing, food, hygiene items, cleaning supplies, and other necessities to migrant farm workers.
Every year, migrant farm workers and their families travel across several states to the Great Lakes Bay Region. Here, they work for the summer and fall, returning home for the winter.
“This is where they make the little extra money to go back home, fix their homes, help their family members, or whatever,” Guzman says. “Some (workers) are young adults and they try and make some money to go to college.
The cars are packed full for the trip, leaving little space for cleaning supplies or spare clothing. For those items, the families turn to pantries such as those run in Bay City and Gagetown by the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw Office of Multicultural Ministry.
Once in Michigan, several families partner together to live in employer-provided housing. The housing is bare bones. The temporary residents start by cleaning the space, and then filling it with household items such as sheets and kitchen pots. Often, the homes have a room for each family alongside a shared kitchen.
It’s a life Guzman experienced as a child.
“We were migrants when we were teenagers,” she remembers. “We would come from Texas to Minnesota. My dad would tell us, ‘OK, as soon as school is over, we’re going to come to the North to do field work.’”
On the way to or from Minnesota, the family sometimes stopped in Bay City to visit an uncle.
“Then one year, in 1969, we stopped here to visit with him, and my dad said, out of nowhere, ‘We’re staying here.’ “
Guzman’s sister, Josie Ramirez – who also volunteers at the pantry – remembers the day well. She had worked only a few years in the field and remembers attending a migrant school in the area.
“It was my brother who said, ‘Nope. No more migrant work,’ “ Ramirez says.
Their brother, George Moreno, found a job at General Motors and eventually bought a house for his parents. He later retired and returned to Texas.
Guzman has been involved with the Diocese migrant program for nearly 20 years.
Her work with the pantry began when she was the bookkeeper at Our Lady of Guadalupe, located on Broadway Street. “The migrant program was in the basement, so guess who signed them in?”
In 2014, when Guadalupe merged with St. Boniface and St. James to become All Saints Parish, Guzman helped move the migrant pantry to St. Boniface.
Today, the pantry takes up most of the basement of St. Boniface.
Chairs in a cool hallway near the pantry give clients a place to rest and wait their turn.
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Graphic Courtesy of the Catholic Diocese of SaginawWhen they step around the corner from the waiting area, the first thing they see is the church’s former nursery. Stacked near a colorful mural featuring cartoon-style castles are shelves filled with non-perishable food. The most in-demand items are flour, baking powder, salt, shortening, oil, beans, and rice.
Walking around another corner, they encounter rows of tables stacked with pants, shirts, shoes, and other clothing. Nearby racks are packed with hanging clothing for everyone from infants to the elderly. Car seats, diapers, kitchen equipment, and linens fill tables near the back of the space.
While the pantry accepts everything, Guzman says they are always in need of work clothes. Long-sleeve shirts, long pants, and sturdy shoes protect workers from the sun, bugs, and plants. Some migrants also look for clothing to wear to church, but most need clothing and shoes for the fields.
“Especially when it’s raining, they get home all muddy and dirty, they have a need to put on clean clothes,” Guzman says. “They don’t bring everything with them. How could they?”
In the final part of the space, shelves stocked with shampoo, soap, deodorant, toilet paper, toothpaste, and personal hygiene items greet visitors. Laundry detergent, dish soap, and cleaning supplies sit nearby.
All of it is donated.
“People are so generous,” Guzman says.
She’s also quick to point out the migrants are doing necessary work in difficult conditions.
“Look at this weather,” Guzman says on a sunny day when the outdoor temperature will reach nearly 100 degrees. “They’re out there working. From one day to the next, the weeds grow.“
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Photo courtesy of the Catholic Diocese of SaginawAmy Rajewski and other volunteers sort donations at St. Boniface Church (All Saints Parish).Volunteer Amy Rajewski sorts the cleaning supplies and hygiene items into bags for the families. Like Guzman, she comes from a family of migrant workers. She didn’t work in the fields, but her father did.
“It’s the same story,” she says, remembering her father honking and waving to people working in the fields along Midland Street.
“I came in with a small bag of donations and asked her (Guzman) if she needed any help. I’ve been down here ever since,” Rajewski says.
Guzman teases Rajewski about trapping her in the basement before turning serious. “She’s a blessing,” Guzman says, adding that each of the volunteers makes a difference.
The families that come here to work in the fields feel the support from the volunteers and donors, Guzman says.
“They have faith and they know they’re coming to a church,” she says. “God is going to be with them.”
Rajewski remembers a child who came to the church at the beginning of the season.
“I saw a little boy the other day, he comes running, we have toys in the back, and he’s running, and then he stops because he saw a little cross and a picture of Jesus. He grabbed that first,” she says.
While the pantry is no longer accepting donations of goods for the 2025 season, it always accepts monetary donations. Donations can be sent to the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw, 5800 Weiss St., Saginaw, 48603. Make checks payable to the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw and write “Migrant Ministry” in the memo line.
As the growing season peaks and nears the end, pantry volunteers and migrant families all look forward to a Farmworker Mass. This year, it's set for Aug. 10 at St. Boniface. A potluck picnic follows the Mass.
For Guzman, the Mass and picnic are a welcome perk to the job.
“Sometimes I feel I’m ready, I’m done,” Guzman says, but then adds: “I’ve been here every summer, thankfully, and I’ll be here forever, until God says no more.”