The Strathmore Speakers Series and Onondaga Free Library‘s April 2023 event featured Central New Yorkers Jim McKeever and Nina Wickett, both of whom have made several volunteer trips to the US-Mexico border to work with migrants and the organizations that support them. They have volunteered in Tijuana and San Diego, and Jim has also worked with Team Brownsville in Texas. In this insightful talk, Jim and Nina shared their experiences, which included working alongside migrants in a community kitchen in Tijuana, escorting recently released ICE detainees to the San Diego airport to reunite with loved ones across the U.S., placing life-saving water and supplies in the desert, and delivering groceries to shelters in Tijuana. Jim and Nina have witnessed the extraordinary courage, resilience and gratitude of the migrants who are hopeful that the U.S. will welcome them.

This event was held on Thursday, April 13th. Missed it? Click here to watch the video.

About Jim McKeever and Nina Wickett

(L-R) Jim McKeever, Nina Wickett, and two young men who are migrants and who work at a community kitchen in Tijuana. Photo from ArtRage Gallery.

Jim McKeever was a staff writer for The Post-Standard in Syracuse for more than 20 years and has volunteered at the US-Mexico border numerous times since 2019. He is a co-founder of senseofdecency.com and shares the stories of asylum seekers and other migrants, including many who live in Central New York.  

Nina Wickett spent most of her career in finance and accounting.  She was the bookkeeper for the Syracuse Peace Council for 10 years. She volunteers with local immigration assistance efforts and since 2019, has been going down to the border with Jim McKeever to help asylum seekers.

(L-R) Jim McKeever, Nina Wickett. Photo provided.