NEWS

You can change the world with radical kindness and radical love. That’s what First Merchants Bank teammates learned from Sister Normal Pimentel, one of the nation’s preeminent authorities on the border crisis.

First Merchants Bank was honored to host Sister Norma during its recent bi-weekly Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Community Call.

The Executive Director of Catholic Charities of Rio Grande Valley in Brownsville, Texas, and the founder of the Humanitarian Respite Center, which cares for people released from detention by the Border Patrol and Homeland Security, Sister Norma has been recognized by both Fortune and Time magazines as one of the World’s Top 100 Leaders.

“I got to know Sister Norma while volunteering at the Humanitarian Respite Center,” shared Scott McKee, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for First Merchants Bank. “I’ve wanted to have her speak to our colleagues here for a long time, as we have teammates, clients, neighbors, and local business owners who moved to this country recently, or whose parents came from other nations. They may struggle with making others aware of the challenges and obstacles they face – so this topic is extremely important to them, and so it should be to us, as well.”

During the call, Sister Norma recounted her time working with people at the nation’s southern border. Her work began, she said, when she noticed an increase in people seeking refuge lingering at the Brownsville bus station.

They were in the process of applying for asylum and residency, and often lacked basic necessities and shelter. Sister Norma, and other members of the community, stepped up to help.

She recalled that, when asked by a local official about these efforts, Sister Norma responded that she, and others, were “restoring human dignity.” Touched, the official asked what he, too, could do to help.

“It was everyone – from every single faith in our community” she said. “We were one community, joined together in loving those who were hurting and who needed our help.”

Nearly 10 years later, the crisis at the border has only intensified.

“Humanity’s hurting, it’s truly suffering,” she shared, describing the more than one thousand-mile journey many people endure and the long process that waits for them at the border. “Ask yourselves, ‘What makes someone get up and walk for miles, and days, with children? What makes a human being risk their life like that?’”

Often, people are fleeing violence in their home countries. When they arrive at the border, the process of immigrating or requesting asylum takes time. But, when petitions are granted, Sister Norma added, the joy when they finally cross the border into the United States is immense.

“It’s like the whole of the United States is saying, ‘You’re a person. You don’t have to walk through the river anymore, you can come through these doors,’” she said.

When First Merchants employees asked what they could do to help, Sister Norma encouraged them to spread love and compassion.

“We must learn to share our prosperity with others. We must learn to embrace life, no matter where people come from,” she said. “…When we shut ourselves away, we limit ourselves from becoming who we were created to be. It’s in that embrace of love and kindness that we become better, that we become the best that we can be.”