1981

• Guidelines of an Interdenominational Ministry to the Rural Poor and Migrant farmworkers for the Mid-Hudson / Catskill Area are approved along with a Study Paper prepared by the Rev. Clifford W. Atkinson.
• An Executive Position for The Mid-Hudson Catskill Rural/Migrant Ministry is approved and on May 13, 1981 the By-Laws become effective. A proposed budget for the new ministry of $43,490 with a projected budget of $44,000 for 1982 is prepared by Rev. Dr. John Hiemstra, Executive Secretary of the Synod of New York, Reformed Church in America.
• The Rev. Andrew McComb becomes the first executive director of the Ministry. Barbara Neevel of New Hackensack Reformed Church is called upon to create the ministry’s first logo. The first bulletin insert is also produced, and Rev. Carlos Lantis of Calvary Presbyterian Church, Newburgh designs our first brochure.

1982

• Damaris Miranda, a New Brunswick Seminary student, is approved as the ministry’s first summer Outreach Worker. This begins a long commitment of RMM to train over 100 university students from the United States, Britain, and Central America during the next two decades.
• The first newsletter (a one-page information sheet) is sent to all the denominational executives for distribution.
• Six children attend summer camp at the Presbyterian Camp in Holmes, NY, at the cost of $1,000.

1983

• New York Ag’n Markets agree to build a day care center in New Paltz, NY. The center offers the Ministry its first office space in return for help in the construction of the facility. Rev. McComb and countless others work diligently on the construction.

1984

• A northern area coordinator, Ms. Kathy Applegate, is hired to serve families in Columbia County.

1985

• The Day Care Center is completed and in May, Matilda Cuomo, wife the Governor of New York State, comes for the dedication.
• RMM creates a subsidiary: Hudson Area Housing Authority to build affordable housing for farmworkers.

1986

• The Rev. Andrew McComb submits his resignation and The Rev. Kenneth Newquist is appointed interim director.
• The budget has risen to $91,778.
• Three Council members, Rev. Jack Branford, Jane Konitz, and Mary Scriver, keep the organization alive through the late 80s as the organization goes through financial and board crises.

1987

• The Rev. Gail Keeney-Mulligan begins as Executive Director.

1988

• Donna Robinson is hired as the first administrative assistant.
• Two Haitian students are hired for the summer to spend four days each week in the Haitian camps and communities offering pastoral care and education.

1989

• The first overnight summer camp is held.
• The Daughters of Sarah, a support group for rural poor and migrant women, is founded by Ruth Faircloth and Gail Keeney-Mulligan.
• RMM gets its first van through a grant from the United Thank Offering of the Episcopal Church.
• The newsletter is renamed, The Harvester.
• Women’s Day magazine, April 18th, honors Rev. Gail Keeney-Mulligan and her work with migrant farmworkers by naming her a winner of their Outstanding Women Awards.

1991

• The Rev. Gail Keeney-Mulligan leaves to begin a new ministry in Panama; the Rev. Richard Witt is named Executive Director.
• As the Child Care Center and RMM expand, RMM is forced to move its office “temporarily” to Christ Church, Poughkeepsie.
• CITA, Centro Independiente de Trabajadores Agricolas/The Independent Farmworkers Center, a farmworker advocacy organization directed by farmworkers, is created in Florida, NY with the help of RMM.

1992

• Staff goes several weeks at a time without being paid due to cash-flow problems.
• Congregational Clusters, which bring congregations from different faiths into relationship with farm camps in the region, is greatly expanded in Ulster, Columbia, Rensselaer and Washington counties.

1993

• RMM helps create the Farmworker Advocacy Coalition.
• The Community Language and Empowerment Program is created to offer a unique ESL program that links college students to the needs of farm camps.

1994

• The first Delegation is offered as people of faith spend a day with RMM and CITA developing an understanding of the working and living conditions of farmworkers.
• RMM Advocates, now known as Farmworker Partners, is created by Ms Jean Walsh, RMM’s first advocacy coordinator.

1995

• The first Farmworker Advocacy Day takes place.
• The Council faces the decision whether to close the Ministry because of an economic crisis or to move forward: they move forward.

1996

• Alan Weeks is hired as the first Youth Empowerment Coordinator and YAG (Youth Arts Group) is born.
• A Resource development plan is developed and RMM’s first Resource Development Coordinator, Mr. Terry Henry, is hired.
• The first farmworker-sponsored legislation in New York’s history passes both the Senate and the Assembly, as farms are mandated to provide drinking water in the fields. Farmworkers fill the Senate gallery for the historic vote.

1997

• The Youth Arts Program expands into Columbia County.
• The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany becomes a Covenanting Denomination.
• RMM moves to a new home - a gift from the Rev. Edwin Muller in the Town of LaGrange.

1998

• Coins of Change, an annual program to help support RMM’s advocacy work, is launched.
• A second historical piece of farmworker legislation is passed as farms are required to provide field sanitation.
• Farmworkers and their advocates are joined at FAD by many labor leaders as Worker Memorial Day is commemorated.

1999

• YEP introduces a new program: Leadership Institutes as Democracy in the Legislative Process is offered in Albany.
• Over 1,000 people attend FAD. The on-going participation of youth in FAD fully blossoms as a special education program is incorporated for the first time into FAD.
• Members of YAG are invited to give a presentation about their work to a gathering of North American university students in Toronto, Canada.
• The New York Daily News begins an award-winning series of editorials, The Harvest of Shame, bringing a powerful voice for justice into the arena. As a result, the legislature passes a third piece of legislation giving farmworkers the same minimum wage standard as other workers in New York.

2000

• First education packet to help congregations and organizations understand the life and work of farmworkers is produced and mailed to over 300 congregations to support Coins of Change program.
• Staff and YAG members travel to the Mexican border to meet with union leaders and organizers in the Maquiladoras.
• RMM begins to expand into Western New York. Richard and Barbara Deming volunteer to become RMM’s Western New York Field Ministers.

2001

• The New York Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends becomes a Covenanting denomination.
• The budget is now $500,000.
• Rural & Migrant Ministry celebrates its 20th Anniversary.

2002

• The New York Conference of the United Church of Christ becomes a Covenanting Denomination
• The Youth Arts Group (YAG) sponsors a successful Farmworker Awareness Day at the Capitol that attracts over 100 youth from across the State.
• RMM develops a collaborative staffing model as we divide up into Accompaniment, Youth Empowerment, and Education teams
• Bill Abom becomes the first coordinator of our western New York office, located in Brockport.
• RMM helps organize marches in support of the Justice For Farmworker Campaign in New Paltz, Fairport and Freeport.
• In response to becoming a state-wide organization RMM creates Councils in eastern and western New York, with the two Councils forming the Board of Directors.