As American As Apple Pie

The United States was founded by and for individuals seeking a better life. People have traveled, and continue to travel, from countries far and wide to participate in our country, founded with freedom and opportunity at the heart 250 years ago. Whether or not the streets are truly “paved with gold”, there is no denying the testimonies of success from the people who traveled here achieve their dreams, whatever that looks like to them.

Especially here in New York, many of us Rocklanders are either descendants of hardworking immigrants or immigrants ourselves. According to the latest census, approximately 22% of Rockland County residents are foreign-born immigrants. According to “Make it Rockland,” immigrants in Rockland County largely originate from the Dominican Republic, India, Haiti, and Ecuador. 

Mary Salcedo, Confidential Assistant to the Rockland County Clerk, is responsible for helping to facilitate the naturalization ceremonies, declaring immigrants from all over the world as official United States citizens. She stated that the office naturalizes 80 to 100 people every other month. Salcedo grew up in Haverstraw, and commented on how having such a diverse community makes her role even more fulfilling. “It’s so emotional. It really is one of the best parts of our jobs… We have a big immigrant population and seeing people become citizens is so beautiful.” Salcedo said she gets calls all the time from recipients asking about space at the ceremonies for families,  “…they all just want to be a part of the day,” she said. “It’s really important to see how many people want to come here and are bringing their families over. It’s a very hard process. These people work so hard to get their citizenship and make a good life for their families.”

One Rockland couple who made the journey across the Atlantic is Paul and Martina Weldon, who came from Dublin, Ireland in 1988 at just 22 and 23 years old. At the time, Ireland was facing great economic disparity, limiting the young couple’s opportunities to find stable work. They shared that  obtaining a college education was largely uncommon in Ireland at the time, and that most people found a trade and stuck with it for the rest of their lives. Paul’s biggest culture shock was the intense heat wave that New York was facing at the time, similar to the heatwave our area is currently enduring. “We had gone to Europe, we had gone to France and Greece beforehand, but it’s nothing compared to what it’s like here,” Martina added.

Another culture shock the Weldons encountered was the immigrant population that drove the economy. “You think you know the US from TV, media, all the shows and movies. What struck me about New York was how many different immigrant ethnicities there were… I thought coming here I’d basically be with Americans, but having spent time working in construction, you were working with other immigrants from everywhere.”

 The two stayed in the Bronx for several years before eventually moving to Pearl River in the early 2000s. Both neighborhoods had a large pre-existing Irish community, which made their adjustment easier. “Everybody helped people get apartments, get furniture, jobs – it was a great community,” Martina said. 

Looking back, Martina recalled a world where there was an astounding lack of consistent communication with her family back home, especially when compared to how easy communication has become in 2026. “When I talked to my family at home, back then you had to call AT&T and it was a dollar a minute. When I came out here, I don’t even think I gave my mother my address. They had no idea, and that was it,” she said.

For Paul, the core of the American Dream centers on the expanse of opportunities. “It’s almost like you can choose jobs here, whereas in Ireland, you took any job you could hold onto.”

Martina highlighted how becoming citizens is what made her job opportunities multiply. “Once we got our green cards, then things changed… I could actually apply for office jobs. I went to work for a major printing company, one of the largest in North America.”

Martina and Paul have two sons Chris, 30 and Daniel, 22. Both have college degrees, with Chris working as an environmentalist and Daniel following in his father’s footsteps in construction management. Paul said about living in America, “You have a choice of opportunity. You see kids when they’re in college, the first two years they don’t know what to do, and they find their way. That’s freedom. If something doesn’t work, you’re not stuck.” He is proud of both of his boys, and certain that the sacrifices him and his wife made were worth it for their kids. 

Gjergj Novak is not just the owner of Country Deli in Pearl River, but is the beating heart of the community of coffee drinkers and BLT enjoyers on Orangeburg Road. Gjergj knows all his customers by name and order, and goes out of his way to brighten each and every patron’s day. “I’m a people’s person. I like to talk to people, I love people. I love business… I love to joke around,” he said. Before Country Deli, Gjergj has his own story, immigrating from Kosovo in 1985. His dream was to own his own business, and he’s worked in many restaurants and pizzerias across New York prior to owning Country Deli. It was through these experiences  that he embraced his love for people, always looking to help out a friend, and in this case a writer! 

Gjergj has four kids, all of whom have finished college and range in age from 22 to 29 years old. “I am very proud, I’m very happy how hard we work, I am proud of my kids. The way they all finished college, they all have jobs and really that’s the dream, to give your kids a better life,” he said. “The American Dream is having everything that I want and giving everything that I want to give for my kids.”

Similarly to Martina and Paul, Gjergj came seeking a better life and job opportunities.  His biggest culture shock was meeting other relatives here who did not speak Albanian. Gjergj is proud of his Albanian culture, and made sure to teach his kids the language.  “Albanian culture is very close knit. We all stay together and go to church and respect traditions. We all speak too, and my kids practice Albanian, they love the music, and I love that they’re proud of who they are and where they come from.”

Nida Sharif, Director of Community Development for Spring Valley, came from Pakistan when she was just four years old in 1989. As the eldest child, she ended up being the translator for her family. “I remember being  five years old…we’d be in Shop Rite, and [my parents] would be like, ‘Ask them where the onions are,’ and I would, as a five year old, have to speak to the cashier.” Looking back, despite her nerves, she is grateful for the early opportunity to practice confidence. Plus, “How else were we gonna find out where the onions were?”

One culture shock Nida experienced was the difference in community. “We come from a culture of loving everybody. We’re very homey people, and we want everyone to feel included,” she said. She recalled friends and family giving her literal scarves off their backs when they were complimented, and how she now strives to implement that generosity into every interaction she has.

The American Dream for Nida is one that she is honored to live out today in her profession. “The American Dream to me means being the Director of Community Development for Spring Valley. This is unheard of.” In her culture, men are seen as superior, so women get less opportunities to succeed. In Pakistan, her father was a successful engineer, but according to Nida, “He never thought about sending us to college. Back home, this wasn’t even a question, he was never gonna do it. He brought us here, knowing that he wanted better for us…When it was time for me to go to college, he said, ‘If you want to go, you have to figure it out on your own.”

Defying all odds and cultural norms, Nida hustled day and night to pay for her degree, then a car, then her own wedding at just 20 years old. 

After she got her degree, the hustle did not end. “I remember getting my bachelor’s, and my dad being like ‘So what you have your bachelor’s? So what, what does that mean? The whole world has their bachelor’s. That doesn’t mean anything.’” So she began working at JP Morgan, which still did not gain her father’s approval. She then obtained her master’s degree, which only received more pressure from her father. “What after? So what?” To which Nida declared to her father, “I’m going to be a director.”

Enter Alan Simon, former Mayor of Spring Valley, who at the time was looking for volunteers to help with his community outreach. After working diligently as a volunteer, Nida was offered a position. “I didn’t even know what title I was getting,” Nida recalled. She had to go through the lengthy process of being hired by the town, and the day after she was hired she asked for her title. “They said ‘You’re the Director of Community Development.’ I was overjoyed. I was ecstatic.”

Nida waited for her business cards to come in, and set a date with her parents at an Arabic restaurant to share the news with them. “My dad said, ‘Whatever happened to that job you were volunteering at for so many years not getting paid?’… I hand my dad the card, and it says Nida J Sharif, Director of Community Development for the Village of Spring Valley. My dad jumped out of his seat, went to the guy next door, and said ‘Listen if you need anything with the community, you need any help, clothes, food, you call my daughter.’” That night, he handed out every single one of Nida’s cards. 

Nida is incredibly proud that her decades of hard work have paid off, sharing, “For that title, for someone of my culture, my skin color, to be in this position to help the community who we desperately seek to fit in with, I am now the leader that’s helping others fit in. It’s such a 360.” 

Daniel Rivas came from Mexico in 1991 when he was 35 years old in hope of a better life. Daniel recalled that the transition was especially difficult because “All the cultures were so different. At the time, there was a lot of racism towards Spanish people. It was hard. I didn’t know the language, so it was harder.”

 Despite this, he worked diligently for several different companies before opening his own pool cleaning business in Haverstraw. “It was hard to leave my country, but I was blessed to come here.”

Daniel has now proudly passed down his mother tongue of Spanish to his family, which they all speak together in the household. Daniel has three kids, the oldest being an accountant at 32, the second oldest 27 waitressing while studying to be a dentist, and his youngest son is 16 in school. “The American Dream is to have my family, my son and daughters do something with their lives,” Daniel said. “What I was looking for when I came here was a better life…This country gave me a better life for me, and now, for my family.”

Father Ransford Clarke’s story is little different from our other stories. Father Clarke came to the United States not for job opportunities, but as a 23 year old student from Jamaica looking to study biology and chemistry at Fordham University. 

After graduating from Fordham, Father Clarke worked as a high school science teacher, until one night his journey to priesthood began with a vivid dream. In the dream, he conducted a mass and said a homily on his own, calling out to the audience and saying that “Advertisements are symbols of our desires.” 

The next morning he woke up with complete clarity that the dream was his calling. He quit the very next day, to which his principal said, astonished, “It’s just a dream!” To Father Clarke, however, that dream was everything.

Father Clarke has now been at St. Margaret of Antioch in Pearl River for 10 years. “It’s been a wonderful 10 years. I’ve met a lot of kids, a lot of people through CCD and our school, and I hope I’ve had a great impact on their lives, spiritually and otherwise… Pearl River really has been a town of friendly people.” 

Father Clarke experienced a great deal of culture shocks after moving to the U.S. at 23. The largest to him was “…the way people speak about God. I grew up in a neighborhood where fear of God is important. We ate, slept, and drank God.”

On a secular note, Father Clarke struggled to describe his identity. “I couldn’t understand the division among people… We never grew up looking at [our differences]. You’re born Jamaican, you’re Jamaican. There was no such thing as ‘white Jamaican’ or ‘black Jamaican,’ you didn’t have these hyphenated ethnic groups where I came from.” 

For getting through these American adversities, Father Clarke gave thanks to his mother’s guidance and connection to spirituality. “When I was growing up as a kid, and I used to worry about what other people would think and say, my mom would ask me three very important questions. ‘1. Do they provide you with food? 2. Do they provide you with shelter? 3. Do they provide you with clothes? So what else do you care about!,’” said Clarke, laughing good naturedly.“My mom’s teachings were always with me… she always drew her counsel and all of her wisdom from her faith. I didn’t have to look far to find it, I just had to open a Bible and she was never far away.”

He also found the fast paced life in America to be challenging. “In my country, we tend to not be very mobile. People remain in their spot. I go back to Jamaica, and people are still in the same place. Here, people just keep moving. To see that mobility is something else, but at the same time it’s nice to go back and have some stable ground. I say to people, time slows down in Jamaica.” 

At heart, he’s a country boy. “In Jamaica, I grew up in the country… I’ve never been a city boy. I love the nature here, it’s so beautiful.” To Father Clarke, the beauty of nature is his American Dream.

“For some it’s the white picket fence and a house. For me though, it was not so much [personal]. The Olympics were in Atlanta and Ray Charles did this rendition of “America the Beautiful”, and in the video he’s showing the vastness of America. It was just beautiful. There were clips of cities and towns and prairies. Waterfalls. I fell in love with the United States. For me, that video captured the American Dream, the beauty and the song, and it captured so much. Where God shed His grace on thee, for me that was the American dream,” he said. 

“I love being Jamaican, I love being American, I see them all as one,” he said.“The United States has given me a lot, but I also never came empty handed. I came bearing the wonderful gift of character that my mom and Jamaican culture has taught me.”

Father Clarke is deeply grateful for the opportunities that the United States has provided, and encourages all readers to share that thanks. “We are reaping the benefits of so many people before us, our founding fathers, it is just absolutely unacceptable for us to not appreciate their labor of love. This torch has been given to us to carry on, and we should carry it on and not simply just sit every day and try to break it down,” he said. “We’re not a perfect country, no one is perfect. We all have our flaws. In the end, this nation has been so good to so many, and around for 250 years. What else can I do but say thank you,” said Father Clarke.