As extra Latinos be part of trucking business, devotion to Our Woman of Guadalupe fuels their pilgrimage to Des Plaines shrine

As a mariachi band performed in a close-by parking zone, dozens of semitrailers parked one after the opposite on Western Avenue. Each was adorned with pictures of Our Woman of Guadalupe, some with flags — Mexican and American ones. However as an alternative of freight, this time the drivers transported solely their households and associates.

They have been preparing for the procession to the Shrine of Our Woman of Guadalupe, an annual celebration of their religion and gratitude for answered prayers all year long — prayers that saved them secure on the highway and people who gave them a gradual earnings to offer for his or her households.

“It’s like a calling that you simply get to go go to her,” mentioned Maria Vargas, the organizer of the pilgrimage that precedes the Feast of Our Woman of Guadalupe, celebrated on Dec. 12 to honor the Virgin Mary. “It’s one thing which you can’t see, you’ll be able to’t clarify, however you’ll be able to really feel. The Virgin Mary represents love and the way vital religion is in our lives.”

The convoy of truckers that takes off from Chicago’s South Aspect to the Shrine of Our Woman of Guadalupe in Des Plaines is among the dozens of pilgrimages that mirror the normal commemorations for the Feast of Religion in Mexico to commemorate La Guadalupe yearly. Lots of of hundreds of Catholic devotees additionally go to the Des Plaines shrine by strolling, working, biking and horse driving, making the Midwest celebration the second largest one after Mexico Metropolis and making the Des Plaines shrine essentially the most visited monument of its form within the U.S.

Most make the journey to the shrine to meet a promise — a manda — or give due to the Virgin Mary for her blessings. For others, it’s a prayer for a particular want or concern.

For the truckers, this can be a method to present the world the ability of religion, Vargas mentioned.

“Regardless of the struggles and the difficulties within the business — the excessive costs of diesel and fewer work — we’re nonetheless standing and in a position to present for our households,” Vargas mentioned.

Vargas is the co-owner of Mainland Corp., a family-owned flatbed transportation firm that was established by Vargas and her brother, Ismael, 20 years in the past with solely two vehicles. Now they personal 10 and handle others. Vargas, who serves as the corporate dispatcher, attributes their success to laborious work, but in addition their religion.

She organized the primary procession in 2015 as a determined prayer for Our Woman of Guadalupe to heal her uncle, José, who had been identified with throat most cancers. On the time, it was only some vehicles and the corporate’s drivers who made the casual journey to Des Plaines in a caravan, she mentioned. That very same 12 months she additionally walked in below-zero temperatures for a number of hours in a single day to the shrine in Des Plaines.

“When there’s nothing left, you cling to your religion,” she mentioned.

A number of months later, her uncle, a father determine for her and her siblings and the one who impressed their work within the trucking business, was not in critical situation.

“Docs couldn’t clarify it, nobody might, however the most cancers was gone,” Vargas mentioned. Since then, she promised that 12 months by 12 months, she would honor the Virgin Mary by organizing the pilgrimage. Her uncle, additionally a trucker, has joined it yearly.

He purchased his first semitrailer in 1999 after working a few years within the building business after emigrating from Mexico. “He labored actually laborious,” Vargas mentioned. He additionally found a job that was a lot much less arduous and way more worthwhile than building, which has traditionally been a livelihood for immigrants.

Vargas’ father had been incarcerated for many of her life, so her uncle turned a father determine for her and her siblings. He helped Vargas’ brother get his industrial driver’s license and purchase his first semitrailer. Then Vargas’ husband additionally went into the business and in 2013, the three put all their life financial savings collectively to ascertain their very own firm.

“I’m so grateful for what now we have been in a position to construct,” Vargas mentioned. So now it’s their purpose to encourage different immigrant households to hitch the business. Working in trucking may help set up generational wealth and transfer immigrants away from heavy labor building work, she mentioned.

Similar to with Vargas and her household, lots of the drivers on the procession know one another. They’re nephews, siblings, cousins and, typically, father and son, or simply compadres — comrades.

Vargas mentioned the variety of Latinos has grown within the business through the years, not solely as drivers but in addition as enterprise homeowners. She’s observed that development when she communicates with different drivers, and when she dispatches for or does enterprise with different firms.

“The truck drivers ought to all be pleased with themselves as a result of it’s a laborious business, a lonely and harmful one,” she mentioned. “Additionally it is predominantly white, nonetheless.”

However 2019 authorities census information reveals that extra Latinos have been coming into the transportation business over the previous decade, making up greater than 12% of the trucking inhabitants and greater than half of the foreign-born drivers within the nation.

The info means that the common age of Latino drivers is decrease than the business common, and the proportion of younger Latinos becoming a member of the workforce is way greater than the business common.

Mauricio Vargas, 26, turned a truck driver for Mainland Corp. two years in the past. “You get to expertise the open highway and the pay is absolutely good,” he mentioned. “It really works for me and my household.”

Although they share the final title, Mauricio is just not part of Maria Vargas’ household. He was recruited to work with them by considered one of his older cousins. And this 12 months was his first time partaking within the procession.

“That is vital to me and my tradition,” Mauricio Vargas mentioned. “I’m glad work is regular and that my household is ready to be right here at present.”

These within the business who don’t communicate English face much more challenges, mentioned Maria Vargas. It’s vital to know how you can navigate the system and be acquainted with expertise to discover a dealer or a shipper and to take care of license points, insurance coverage and lots of different technicalities of managing their very own companies.

“Regardless that many don’t know the language, they nonetheless do it,” she mentioned.

Victor Gonzalez, 50, started driving a industrial truck in 2004. Proper earlier than the procession started, he rigorously pinned a small picture of Our Woman of Guadalupe on the entrance of his blue truck. He drove greater than two hours to be part of the convoy to honor the mom of Jesus.

“There’s a lot to be grateful for; it’s good to take a day away from work to replicate on that,” he mentioned.

He was one of many few Spanish-speaking drivers within the discipline when he first started, he mentioned. Now, speaking in Spanish is way more comfy and regular. “I stumble upon different drivers on the highway which can be Mexicans on a regular basis now,” he mentioned.

“It makes me proud much more that we’re all right here collectively,” Gonzalez mentioned.

The expansion of Latinos within the important business is mirrored in the way in which the pilgrimage has grown through the years. Greater than 100 truckers joined the procession Saturday, every week earlier than the feast.

Maria Vargas mentioned that she is going to proceed to provoke truck drivers to hitch the procession subsequent 12 months, this time praying that the business doesn’t endure, as a recession is anticipated.

larodriguez@chicagotribune.com