Seeking Support During Asylum

Over a year and a half ago, thousands of people from Central America joined the caravan to flee the danger and peril of their homeland in search of safety, hoping for asylum. After a long and arduous journey, they arrived to the Mexican border which instantly became a bottle neck as the United States Federal government created barrier after barrier to safe passage. Once a person did make it past that immense barrier, they were placed in the Icebox for about a month. There, the people shared a 10 x 10 space with about 6 other people and a toilet while experiencing air conditioning set to about 45 degrees. After making it through that obstacle, they were placed in detention, in cells with so many people there is not enough room to lay down. They stayed their until they could be interviewed and could provide a name and address of a person in the U.S. that would take responsibility for making sure they made it to their court dates and ICE check ins.

Less than about 20 people made it through that process to successful arrive to Eugene. 

Reina is one of those few people. This woman is strongly dedicated to continuing to care for her family that was not able to make it to the U.S.  Reina contributes every spare dime she can to make sure her adult son, who is the uncle and caregiver to her three orphaned grandchildren, can eat, and have a home. They have a plan that will allow this family to achieve more independence over the next six months but it depends on her financial support at this time. 

As soon as Reina was legally allowed to work, she had no less than three jobs. And that happened after the pandemic affected our community. 

She is so committed to her dream of achieving financial stability that she takes every shift offered to her. One down side to this much work is that living in another person's home and sharing space is creating a potentially unsafe situation for one of our community's elders. Anther consequence is that she is overworked and exhausted.

So Reina is moving into a more independent space. This is a big  step in her process and we want to support her in this important and challenging change.

We are asking for your help. Could you share a contribution to Reina's path toward stability? 

The wealth of this community lies in our ability to step up to lend a hand when it is needed. A sponsor has been supporting her, an elder of our community has been housing her. We can, put our hands into the circle and support her in making this next important step toward her clear and unassuming dream of relative safety and stability a reality.

With gratitude and humility, thank you so much for your time and consideration!