Aid for Josef’s family, refugees from Honduras

Hello everyone, I have a new and important update. Josef, Jaisy, Benjamin, Jacob and Kimberly HAVE MADE IT into the United States!!!! After nearly 3 years of limbo and hardship in Mexico, they have finally been allowed to apply for asylum and remain in the US while they wait out their case. 

They are currently in Houston and trying to get to Atlanta, Georgia, where they have a family member and will try to make a life, at least initially. To get there, they need bus tickets that cost $500 for the 5 of them, plus anything that can help them once they arrive. They have no cash. Literally starting from scratch. Yet determined to make it work. 

My family and I are doing what we can and so many people have helped out over the last year in the fundraiser, and we are trying to get in touch with refugee assistance organizations, but once again I have to reach out and ask for help to anyone who can spare a few extra bucks.   The fundraiser is linked below, and although it says $1,888 has been fundraised, that’s all past aide that has been spent while in Mexico, so anything raised above $1,888 is what will go to help them now. 

 Thank you to everyone who has helped support this family over the last year ❤️❤️

Original fundraiser description (2020):

I’ve set up this fundraiser to raise emergency funds (to help with costs of food, housing, educational materials, and a work license) for my friend Josef and his family. They are refugees from Honduras who left their homes in 2018, fleeing the extreme poverty, violence and corruption plaguing their country, with hopes of arriving to the U.S. and being granted asylum. However, due to cruel and restrictive immigration policies of the Trump administration -- which has closed borders, turned refugees away, demonized Latin Americans, separated families at the border, and pressured Mexico to increase deportation of Central Americans regardless of their rights as refugees --  Josef's family has been stuck in Mexico for well over a year, struggling to survive in a country which suffers from many of the same problems they are trying to leave behind. And as black immigrants, they face an extra barrier of discrimination. Josef has constantly been turned away for work. When he finally managed to get a job working as a security guard, a month later the pandemic hit and he was let go, with no success in finding work ever since. They have gotten by on the small income of Josef’s wife, Jaycee, who has been able to continue working from home as a telemarketer, and occasional help from friends back home. But it is not enough.

They live in a small apartment in a dangerous neighborhood of Monterrey, where they rarely go outside due to the insecurity. Benjamin (7), Jacob (5), and Kimberly (3), who have been unable to go to school for a year and a half, don’t have all the materials they need to learn from home, nor the sufficient nutrition to be as healthy and active as they can be. Schools in Mexico are closed due to the pandemic and it is up to families to buy educational materials. Josef and Jaycee have been doing everything they can to weather the storm and keep their family afloat, but as the weeks, months, years have gone by, and as a worldwide pandemic has deepened inequality around the world, their situation has only become more dire. Yet despite everything they have been through, they continue persevering. I speak with Josef about once a week and no matter how tired and stressed he sounds, he tells me how he has not lost hope and faith that one day things will be better and he'll be able to provide a future for his kids.

They hope and pray that they will finally have the opportunity to apply for asylum in the U.S. once Trump is no longer President. I also hope that when January 20 comes along, it will be possible. In the meantime, I set up this fundraiser so that collectively we can help them. 

These are hard times for everyone, and there are many important causes and organizations to give to; this is an opportunity to help one family in a very direct and impactful way. Anything helps and every contribution is greatly appreciated. I set the goal for $1,500 because it seems attainable and an amount that would make a big difference in their lives, allowing them to afford more and better quality food, secure housing, educational materials for the kids to learn from home, and for Josef to start work as a taxi driver. But even if we are unable to meet that goal, any little bit makes a difference for them.