Honduran mom, kids coming to Oregon. Here’s how you can help

OWLS member Edie Rogoway has, through her contacts at Al Otro Lado, been notified of a family seeking asylum from Honduras who was in need of emergency sponsorship and housing. The OWLS network has provided! Alana Iturbide Simmons and her family have stepped up in the biggest way to offer housing. Joslyn Keating is coordinating donations of clothing and household goods. There is a PayPal donation account for money for transportation from California, and then for the expenses Alana and her family will have feeding and housing the family for six months.

Here’s what we know: mom is 29, has three children with her: two girls, ages 3 and 12, and one boy, age 9. They will be arriving within a week, with the clothes on their backs.

Here’s how to donate: https://www.paypal.me/HonduranFamily. Share this link with friends and family. Make it your birthday donation request.

If you have in-kind donations, they need: a bunk bed and bedding, gift cards for clothing, hygiene items, etc., a toddler bed, a car seat, toys. Contact Joslyn at joslyn.keating@gmail.com.

If you have social service contacts in Vancouver WA, or can help with occasional transportation to appointments, contact Alana at Alanaiturbide@yahoo.com.

And, watch the listserv for follow-up requests.

Donate air miles to reunite families

Lawyer Moms of America and Project Corazon (L4GG Foundation) have formed a travel bank to help reunite families and to support lawyers going to the border to do pro bono work. Since July 2018, they have received and used more than 1.2 miles and $12,000 to provide more than 75 flights to families in need and to attorneys traveling to the border. If you have airline miles or points to pledge, you can fill out this form: https://airtable.com/shrpUVKpfAtL5QiU9

Note: you need to fill out the form once for each airline you are donating miles from.

OWLS Board offers donation match to APANO for Sheridan asylees

The OWLS Special Committee on Family Separation and Child Detention has an opportunity for you to participate in the local effort to support the asylum-seekers brought to the federal prison at Sheridan. We have gotten the OWLS Board to donate to the fund managed by APANO, as a matching fund to encourage your donations. This fund provides commissary funds to the men while they are in detention, and funds for clothing and basic necessities when they are released.

The Board has donated $850 to the fund this week. Now, we’d love to see that doubled through your donations. If you’ve wondered how you can help, if you don’t speak a foreign language fluently, don’t practice immigration law, don’t live in the northern Willamette Valley… know that your donation, however seemingly small, is working with the donations of other OWLS to make a real difference in the lives of these asylum-seekers.

Click here to donate. And, thank you, for this and for everything you do.

Maya Crawford Peacock
Kathryn Olney
Co-Chairs, OWLS Special Committee on Family Separation and Child Detention

Update on Sheridan and volunteer needs from APANO

Currently, about 43 of the men are still at Sheridan. The remainder have been released, transferred, or have elected to return home! (This information is coming from the Federal Public Defenders Office). APANO has been able to transfer $100 in each of the commissary accounts of the majority of the 79 asylees that Innovational Law Lab and the Federal Public Defenders Office is representing (over $8,000 total).

The ACLU and Innovation Law Lab recently wrote up a great summary of the collaborative response to Sheridan.

We still need your help with financial donations to support the currently detained asylees with their commissary accounts and help the released reconnect with family. You can donate here (www.apano.org/sheridan).

You can also donate gift cards, calling cards, and Tracfones. As of now, the released asylees need gift cards (Walmart, Target) to purchase clothing that will fit them, and they need phones (Tracfones) with calling cards to connect with family. You can deliver these items to the APANO Office (2788 SE 82nd Ave., Suite 203, 97266). If you do decide to donate these items, please fill out this form indicating the number and amount so we all know how many items to expect and when we have reached our capacity.

Thank you to everyone who has already donated their time, energy, goods, and money.

With love and courage,

Jai Singh Field Organizer, APANO
photo Mobile: 503.688.0776
Email: jai@apano.org
Address: 2788 SE 82nd Ave Suite 203, Portland, OR 97266
Pronouns: He, Him, His

Ways to Volunteer: Catholic Charities of Oregon

We recently reached out to a number of groups to gather particularized information about their volunteer needs. We received the following update from Catholic Charities of Oregon:

While we are not serving people directly at the border, we are and have been consistently serving refugees and immigrants of all status. We would love to have our attorney colleagues at OWLS (and non-attorneys too) volunteer and contribute in the following ways. While monetary donations are always gratefully accepted, here are some other way they can help:

Immigration Legal Services:
Catholic Charities legal volunteers participate in the day-to-day operation of Immigration Legal Services under the supervision of an attorney or accredited representative. Legal volunteers assist clients with their humanitarian and family-based immigration applications and petitions at all stages of the case. Tasks include interviewing clients, translating personal declarations, drafting motions and memoranda on legal issues, and preparing evidence for submission to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Volunteers will also have the opportunity to work on motions and briefs for litigation in immigration court and attend immigration court proceedings. Volunteers work closely with attorney supervisors and receive regular one on one instruction and feedback related to their assignments. Catholic Charities requires a 12 hour/week commitment during regular office hours. If this option is not a good fit, our office also manages a pro bono attorney training and referral program for active members of the Oregon State Bar. Please email Sheridan Rueter at srueter@ccoregon.org if you are interested in volunteering with us. Thank you for your interest.

Refugee Resettlement:
The RR Refugee Restart Kit request is attached. We are always looking for kitchen kits, bathroom kits, new pots and pans, and new underwear in various sizes (for male, female, adult, and child). We could also use cell phones that are unlocked, in good working condition without cracks, and preferably no more than a couple years old. Opportunities to volunteer with refugees can be found on our website and our next Refugee Services Volunteer Training is on August 13, 2018.

 

Fund set up for Sheridan detainees’ commissary, post-release needs

Our friends at APANO (Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon) are raising money to put into commissary accounts for each of the asylum-seekers detained at the federal prison in Sheridan. These funds allow the men to purchase personal care items, snacks, and phone calls. The funds will also be used to purchase items they need on that happy day when they are released. You can donate to this fund here: http://www.apano.org/sheridan

NY Times article about Immigrant Families Together, a crowdfunded drive to pay for the reuniting of mothers and children

Women Ask ‘What if It Were Me?’ and Rush to Aid Separated Families

We have a link to the GoFundMe accounts under Get Involved.

Sharing “UNACCOMPANIED: Alone in America”

Read the background at KGW.com.

Watch the video here:

UNACCOMPANIED: Alone in America from Linda Freedman on Vimeo.

UNACCOMPANIED: Alone in America shows the incredible obstacles young unaccompanied children face when they appear alone, without a lawyer, in immigration proceedings.

Donate here: https://www.unaccompaniedchildren.org/unaccompanied