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McALLEN—Ticket counters representing eight bus companies serve hundreds of passengers daily at McAllen Central Station, an international transit hub in the Rio Grande Valley. Central Station has also become a new site for SBTC Disaster Relief chaplains to minister to immigrants picked up by border patrol agents.
“We will minister to families as they are released by the border patrol and transported to Central Station,” SBTC Interim Director of DR Scottie Stice said. “At the bus station, we will greet them, pray with them and share the Lord with them as they move on to their destinations.”
SBTC DR chaplains will also distribute travel packs assembled in the Rio Grande Valley by Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster Relief (VOAD). The packs contain snacks, light blankets, toothbrushes and travel necessities.
SBTC chaplains will be working with other faith-based groups through VOAD.
“Our chaplains will work the twilight or swing shift, from 3-11 p.m. nightly through the week,” Stice explained, noting that chaplains Julian Moreno and Armando DeLeon left for McAllen on Oct. 15 and expected to work that evening.
“We are sending bilingual teams of two to three members,” Stice said. “We never know how many busloads of immigrants to expect. Some evenings three to five may come. Other times, only one may come. But we’ll be ready.”
Moreno and DeLeon are expected to be in McAllen through Oct. 17. Another team led by Jim Howard will rotate in on Oct. 20, Stice said, adding, “First Baptist Church of McAllen has been and continues to be heavily involved in the ministry to border immigrants.”
