In the early 1900s my grandparents on both sides of my family came to the United States from Minsk, which is now the capital city of Belarus.  They came as Jewish immigrants/refugees to escape from the pogroms of the Russian Empire.  Both of my grandfathers at around the age of 12 came here as stowaways on cargo ships to escape transcription into the Russian army where young Jewish boys were sent to the front lines, most often to be killed.  During that time when our country was more welcoming to immigrants and refugees they were able to obtain their citizenship, find jobs, and raise their families.

In the 1980s a member of my extended family came here undocumented from Mexico to work so that he could send money that he earned here back to his family in Mexico.  There was insufficient work in Mexico to earn enough money to support a family. During that time he used an alternative name in order to go undetected.  Thanks to the asylum granted to undocumented immigrants during the Reagan administration, he was able to obtain his citizenship.  He has been a very productive member of his community and has paid his fair share of taxes.

I share these stories in order to provide some background of my own personal connection to those who are now here as undocumented immigrants, refugees, or asylum seekers. In 2013 I was part of a group that met with the staff members of representatives and senators from both parties, urging them to pass the bi-partisan comprehensive immigration reform bill. The bill was passed by the Senate, but rejected by the House.

In 2018, a zero tolerance policy regarding undocumented immigrants coming to the United States was instituted by our government, resulting in a number of children being separated from their parents. That summer after seeing a crying toddler, surrounded by ICE agents on the cover of Time Magazine, I was moved with compassion and a desire to do something. But, what could I do? I thought that perhaps I could share my gifts as a musician and put on a concert that would raise awareness as well as funds for organizations that serve our immigrant and refugee sisters and brothers. I shared this idea in a post on Facebook. The response was incredible. As a result, thanks to my co-organizers, Steve Young and Greg Pierson, over 16 individual performers and groups, and a number of generous volunteers, the first “Share the Journey, A Concert for Compassion” was held on October 12, 2018 at Bellarmine Chapel at Xavier University. That first concert raised over $4000 which was donated to the Kino Border Initiative and LULAC (League of Latin American Citizens).  Everyone involved including our tech support personnel were volunteers, thus allowing us to donate 100% of the proceeds. 

Since 2018 we’ve organized a Share the Journey concert every year and have raised over $50,000 to date supporting 2 or 3 organizations each year, including Catholic Charities of Southwest Ohio, Casa de Paz, Heartfelt Tidbits, and Jesuit Refugee Service. A number of performers have come forward, wanting to be a part of this effort. In 2020, due to the pandemic we held the concert virtually with live emcees. The performers sent in videos of their performance and contributed videos for 2 finales. 

God blessed us with a number of well-known national acts including Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey, John McCutcheon, Steve Katz, and our co-host, Michael Johnathon of WoodSongs who has been one of our emcees every year since. A number of my fellow liturgical composers including Sarah Hart, ValLimar Jansen, Donna Peña, Jaime Cortez, and many others took part in that concert which was held for 2 nights due to the large number of performers. Here is the final night from that 2020 concert. 

This year’s concert was held on September 28 at the 1st United Church of Christ in Cincinnati. Once again it was an all volunteer effort, resulting in zero expenses.  Our performers even covered their own travel, two of whom paid for over 1200.00 for their airfare. 100% of the proceeds went to support the work of Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, Heartfelt Tidbits, and Catholic Charities of Southwest Ohio.

Having held the concert annually in Cincinnati 8 times now, it is our hope that other Share the Journey concerts will be organized and held in other cities across the U.S.  We have begun laying some of that groundwork and have received some positive response so far.  With over 60,000 immigrants currently in detention at the time of this writing, most of whom without criminal records, the need is greater than ever an families continue to be uprooted, people living in fear and children continue to be separated from their parent.

More information about the Share the Journey concerts can be found here.

Thank you to all who continue to speak out, to advocate, and to support this work.

Bobby Fisher