Giving Back – Part of the Latino Immigrant Experience

By Alexandra Aquino-Fike, Being Latino

We often hear that the holiday season is also the “Season of Giving.”  These days, when I think about the spirit of “giving back,” I think of the selflessness and generosity of those Latino immigrant day laborers who assisted in the post-Hurricane Sandy cleanup efforts.

These Latino men and women (many of whom were probably undocumented immigrants and struggling to make ends meet) arrived to various New York City neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Sandy. Without being asked to help, they participated for days in the cleanup and rebuilding efforts. They came regardless of the possible risk of being questioned about their legal status, and they came without any expectation of remuneration. They, like all of us fellow New Yorkers, saw the devastation left behind in Staten Island, Coney Island, and other areas of the City and came to help.

The story of the NYC day laborers is not the only example of how Latino immigrants give back.  Latino immigrants “give back” every day. Many work long hours and sacrifice their own needs to send money home to support their families. Many join hometown associations to invest in their towns of origin and rebuild the roads or build a school. Others form church groups to help those in need in their local community.

We hear a lot of negative – I would argue, aggressive – criticism of Latino immigrants. We hear it all the time: they are a drain on American society; they “take” away resources from non-immigrant Americans.  But in the middle of all of this negative discourse on immigration, or despite of it, these Latino day laborers came out because they felt they needed to help. They came to give; they came to rebuild.

This spirit of generosity was captured in the words of Aquilino Gonzalez of El Centro del Inmigrante, who stated, “We are willing to rebuild this city and we are not going anywhere.  We are not going to abandon this city just because of this disaster.  We are going to stay until we return to rebuild everything as it was before.”[1]

People like those day laborers are my heroes. They are true givers. As a fellow Latino immigrant, I have that same urge to give back to my adopted home and my country of origin. I hope one day I can be as an amazing giver as they are.

This article was first published in Being Latino.

[1] See, Jackie Tortora, “Day Laborers Clean Up New York City,” available at:http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Community-Services/Day-Laborers-Clean-Up-New-York-City-After-Hurricane-Sandy.

 Alexandra Aquino-Fike is Senior Manager of Corporate Relations at Hispanics in Philanthropy.