At his next job, he worked in maintenance at clinics in that area, doing whatever needed to be done, including painting and sometimes putting in floors.

After moving to the Washington area, Evelio Menjivar worked as a janitor at a UPS warehouse in Laurel, Maryland, arriving before dawn to clean offices, and then after trucks left for deliveries, cleaning those work areas. He also had a part-time job in Gaithersburg cleaning offices. Later, he worked as a painter for two years.

“Working with others is a really beautiful experience. I feel like I truly built up good relationships, friendships with others,” said Bishop Menjivar, noting that sometimes when celebrating Mass in the Silver Spring area, he sees an old man that he used to paint with. “Building up community (at work), you start caring for one another. You are sad when something happens to those people. So the workplace becomes a family, you support each other.”

Like many immigrant workers, he was sometimes exploited. He described a time when he was working for a painting company, and the company’s owner didn’t pay the workers.

Bishop Menjivar also noted how immigrant workers sometimes do not have workplace safety that other workers have. “Painting those very tall townhouses, you always take risks, and most of the time, I didn’t have health insurance,” he said.