Cornerstone Community Church expands its support for farmworker hub

As migrant farmworkers arrive this spring for another season of working on local farms, The Farmworker Hub NOTL continues to evolve to help them. One of the reasons for its growing success since its beginnings in 2021 has remained constant — the support of Cornerstone Community Church.

In 2021, as farmworkers arrived from their home countries, still feeling the impacts of the pandemic, a group of volunteers envisioned working together to provide assistance. They soon discovered one of their challenges was a location that would suit their purposes. They were looking for something central, and were able to rent a house on the back of the Cornerstone town campus parking lot.

While the hub began there, where donations could be dropped off and sorted, it was quickly moved to a portable, also on the Cornerstone parking lot, and in its second year, the church provided a room in its Vigil campus where volunteers could sort and display clothing, along with a some household and toiletry items. Next the church opened a large space upstairs, which has become a lounge and meeting place for the men and women when they have time to socialize.

Since 2019, Cornerstone has provided a medical clinic, with four examination rooms and a waiting room, staffed by church volunteers with health care training and skills, including nurses, doctors, and administration staff. “It runs just like any other medical clinic,” explains Jeff Martens, outreach pastor and operations director.

It’s often easier for farmworkers to access on their time off, and although they qualify for OHIP, it can take some time to organize and they don’t always have heath cards to show when seeking medical care. The Cornerstone clinic doesn’t require OHIP cards, he says, “and it doesn’t cost the church anything to run it.”

Cornerstone partners with the Quest Community Health Centre to provide medical care through its Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, explains Martens. Quest’s health care services and health promotion, developed with community stakeholders such as Cornerstone, are offered in the church’s Virgil space, as well as in other areas of Niagara. In 2023, “230 individuals came through the clinic, sometimes with repeat visits for follow-ups,” he says.

Last year Julia Buxton Cox, founder of the hub, decided to step back from her role. Since then the church has taken on a substantial leadership position, along with the hub volunteers, “although in some ways,” says Martens, “there is not a lot of change. Many of the same volunteers are helping out, some of them stepping up to do more.”

Initially hub organizers were just looking for a space to operate, he says. “And at the same time, the church was wrestling to decide what to do with this building, whether to sell it, or hold on to it to offer direct services for migrant workers that could be run out of this space. We had  already been running the health clinic with Quest, and when Julia was looking to retire, we made a decision to keep this going. We’re still in the process of figuring out what it will look like going forward. Our vision is for this property to act as a resource centre for migrant workers, and the hub is one piece of that. There are other partnerships in discussion, and our goal is to offer other services, with the hub as a big part of that.”

Martens mentioned the successful peach cafe held on the church parking lot last season “as an opportunity to bring the whole community together, which is part of the vision of the resource centre the church is hoping to create. As a church we realized how incredibly well-positioned we are,” he added, “and how much we can do here.”

The vision to create a resource centre, and Martens’ desire and enthusiasm to ensure its success, comes from concern that “farmworkers are in a position of vulnerability while they’re here. That’s not being critical of the program, it’s just that inherently there are vulnerabilities. Health care is a good example. Farmworkers have the same rights to health care as all of us, they have full access to it. But practically speaking, they can’t always access it, because of limited ability due to their work schedule, or lack of an OHIP card. We’re providing a service that works for them, addressing the barriers they face,” says Martens.

"Cornerstone is involved in supporting migrant workers because we want to express God's welcome and love to all members of the NOTL community. Migrant workers play a critically important role in supporting the agricultural industry in NOTL, and we want to help them overcome the various hurdles they face while working away from their families in a foreign country."

Cornerstone is now focusing on offering assistance and programs to two community groups, youth through its own church youth program as well as space and support for the NOTL Youth Collective, and providing help with the needs of migrant workers, says Martens. “We have lots of space here to share. This is a large property, under-serviced, and we’re making space for those who need it.”

At the hub, everything is free to the migrant workers, although there are limits, explains volunteer merchandiser Emily Fieguth, who has taken over the organization and displays of clothing and other items. Three pieces of clothing, three household items, three accessories, such as socks or belts, and one item for personal hygiene can be chosen on each visit, she says.

Popular at this time of year, adds Martens, is the availability of gently-used, steel-toed work boots and shoes, donated by Mister Safety Shoes Canada. “They’ve been a very generous sponsor,” he says. “We’re thankful for their generosity, which allows us to deliver these boots to the workers as they’re arriving for the season.”

For decades, the migrant workers who came to NOTL turned to Newark Neighbours for their needs as they arrived each spring. There they would find clothing and household goods, but it was a small, cramped space and out of the way for the workers, who travelled to the thrift shop on John Street by bike on their Sunday time off work.

Now, although The Farmworker Hub NOTL has become the principal place for men and women to visit for clothing, Newark Neighbours, with its much enlarged thrift shop and a central location on Niagara Stone Road in Virgil, is also available for shopping. Grant emphasizes Newark is a back-up for those looking for items they haven’t been able to find at the hub, including clothing and household goods, and there is a charge. “We try to be fair with our prices, and the minute the farmworkers return for the season they come in to see us.”

They are looking for warm coats, jeans, boots, and other clothing items, and with the expanded space of shopping, which Grant says is becoming a small, not-for-profit retail store, Newark offers a good selection. Household goods are also high on the list of farmworkers’ needs as they arrive. “Last week they were buying dishes, kitchen utensils, a blender — those sorts of items. One gentleman found a microwave, and he was thrilled.”

The food bank is unable to take farmworkers as registered recipients, she says. Although it’s something the board has discussed, “and some, but not all, probably do need help with food, if we say yes to one we would have to say yes to all 2,500, and we just can’t do that.”

Fieguth and Grant both point out the hub and Newark Neighbours are aware of what each organization can do and are promoting each other — there is a Newark Neighbours poster by the hub door. They also share donations. “If we get something we don’t need we pass it on, and Newark does the same for us,” says Fieguth.

The hub welcomes members of the community and employers who might be interested in its work to take a tour of the Cornerstone space, “and see what we’re doing,” she says. “People are getting to know about us, but in the grand scheme of things we’re still young.”

They have about 40 volunteers, many of whom have been with the hub from the beginning, “and we couldn’t do it without them. Of course we are always looking for more,” she says, adding it would only need to be a commitment of a few hours a month, for sorting donations on Tuesdays, or being there to help out on Sundays.

The hub is now open Tuesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for donation drop-offs, and Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m. for migrant workers to pick up what they need. For more information visit thehubnotl.ca.

Newark Neighbours is open every day. It began opening for farmworkers’ convenience last Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.

Its hours are Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information visit newarkneighbours.ca or call 905-468-3519.