Direct Help for Asylum Seekers coming from Detention Centers
Are you feeling helpless and wish you knew who and how to help? While in Arizona, we met and interviewed many organizations that are on the ground, in the trenches, meeting the immediate and urgent needs of those coming directly from ICE detention centers. We will highlight each one this week!
We toured the warehouse for Gathering Humanity, an NPO founded by three amazing women, which has become a stabilizing force that has earned the respect and confidence of every organization involved in this humanitarian dilemma.
They are the gate-keepers that organize it all! They deliver supplies and goods to the many churches in the area who receive busloads of people every week. They are run 100% by volunteers and depend on the help and donations that come from volunteers.
With increasingly high demands for donations, please consider donating to Gathering Humanity:
1. If you are local to the Phoenix area and would like to volunteer time or resources (choosing from a wide variety of opportunities), go to their Facebook page for constant updates!
2. If you are farther away and would like to help with monetary donations, please go to their donation page here! Every cent goes directly to helping refugees and asylum seekers!
WE can absolutely vouch for their integrity and the vital role they are playing in supporting the humanitarian needs there.
Official Statement on the Detention of Refugees and Ongoing Community Violence
With another death in Minnesota and continued violence toward individuals and groups standing up for their communities, we acknowledge the profound fear and uncertainty people are feeling--not just locally, but across the country.
On top of this, there are reports that refugees invited and admitted to our country through the U.S. Refugee Admission Program are now being detained, meaning that our new friends and neighbors feel that fear most acutely.
Refugees have already fled violence and persecution once. They came here legally, seeking safety. In moments like these, we reaffirm our commitment to building communities where refugees and immigrants can live without fear. Where they can go to work, send their children to school, and build lives of dignity and belonging.
We call for due process, accountability, and humanity in all immigration enforcement operations. We call upon our leaders to demand the demilitarization of our neighborhoods and cities. And we call on all of us to continue the work of welcoming and protecting those who have been forcibly displaced from their homes.