Rev.Marjorie MacNeill and her daughter, Catherine VanVliet Mey, visited Arizona and brought needed supplies to three mission sites serving the US/Mexico border area.
You may want to follow – and perhaps support – these two ministries as I will continue to do. Each support place or programs which my daughter and I visited. Frontera de Christo is one of several Presbyterian cross-border missions – this one in Douglas AZ in Cochise County. Cruzando Fronteras is an Ecumenical effort on the border in Nogales Arizona/Mexico coordinated by the Episcopal Diocese of AZ along with the Lutheran Church (ELCA) and the United Church of Christ (UCC).
A network of SHELTERS in TUCSON AZ continues to offer welcome and assistance to hundreds of ASYLUM SEEKERS who have been released from border detention and are on their way to family or sponsors elsewhere. Here’s the information about how to help:
Send packages or online orders directly to the refugee shelter at:
Catholic Community Services,
800 North Country Club Road,
Tucson AZ 85716
OR donate through gofundme.com “CCS migrant shelter”
OR send financial donations to
Catholic Community Services
140 W. Speedway, Blvd., Suite 130
Tucson, AZ 85705
Especially needed for the CCS Monastery Shelter in Tucson are:
Backpacks, travel blankets, new underwear for children and adults (size S/M), new socks for all ages, basic clothing for boys and girls, men’s and women’s tennis shoes (S), men’s belts (S), men’s pants (size 28-32), and women’s leggings (S/M) which can easily be ordered and sent.
Other organizations we visited that could use ongoing support are:
Frontera de Cristo
826 11th Street, Douglas, AZ 85607
fronteradecristo.org
We also brought requested supplies to this cross-border mission that is based in Douglas AZ and Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. They are one of several Presbyterian missions along the US/Mexico border that focus on building economic strength in their communities, international friendship/understanding, and welcoming visitors who seek to learn more about border issues through group emersion experiences. We brought personal care items for the most vulnerable people with whom they work and school supplies for their children and youth programs. We were able to meet their coordinator, Mark Adams, and talk with staff when we brought supplies.
Catholic Community Services of South Arizona
Casa Alitas, Catholic Community Services
800 North Country Club Road, Tucson AZ 85716
ccs-soaz.org (Casa Alitas, aid for migrant families).
Tucson’s former Benedictine Monastery has received more than 500 parents and children since it opened its doors to families seeking refuge in the United States three weeks ago. The families, the vast majority from Central America, are vetted by immigration officials and released to continue the process of their immigration cases elsewhere in the country, usually where they already have relatives or friends who can sponsor them.
We brought the majority of our donated supplies to one of a network of churches and shelters in Tucson; specifically to their support of refugee youth and families who have asked for asylum, have been detained at the border but then released after screening to join family or sponsors elsewhere in the country. As is the case in El Paso TX, the families are released by ICE at local bus stations with few resources for their journey.
We brought many requested supplies including new underwear for men, women, and children, socks for all, personal care items, travel snacks, Pedialyte, baby formula, backpacks, and small travel blankets. Some of the youth and volunteers helped to unload our car. I got to meet one of the families who had arrived at this new shelter location – and wished I had a wider command of conversational Spanish!! Since returning from Arizona, I was able to use further donations I’d received to order more backpacks and travel blankets through Amazon for that shelter and those families. A friend who is volunteering there recently posted their need for other items for those who’ll be traveling from Tucson to northern locations: gloves, winter hats, small/medium sized jeans for men, winter jackets, small/medium sized men’s sneakers, and backpacks!!
Christ Church, Presbyterian 