Send clothing & supplies to migrant children
Donation protected
**2020** UPDATE
Hello, Angels! Thank you SO MUCH for your support! Since July 2019, your support shipped over 4,000 lbs of baby and children's clothing and hygiene supplies to asylum-seeking guests at Casa Alitas. You are incredible! As promised, we also directed funds to other "highest need" areas of the shelter, including $1,000 to the medical team to buy prescription medications (mainly diabetes medicines and antibiotics), and we also raised $500 to buy children's winter coats for guests traveling to colder climates.
We are continuing our work supporting the asylum-seekers at Casa Alitas through 2020--and as long as they need us.
We will use this GoFundMe platform as the primary method to raise money. To keep up-to-date on how this money is being used, please visit our website: www.AlitasAngels.com. As always, we will use money to send donated supplies. After that, we are using the funds to support the shelter in the area of highest need.
You can also find us on Facebook by searing for "Alitas Angels."
Carry on, Angels! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
-Maggie and Rachel
--------------------------
Hello!
TL/DR: I am asking for donations to help cover the costs of shipping boxes full of baby clothes to benefit migrant children at the Casa Alitas shelter in Tucson.
The Background
Casa Alitas is a shelter in Tucson, AZ, that serves asylum-seeking families almost exclusively. These are families who have spent days or weeks in ICE detention centers, and who have been released. They have nothing except the clothes on their backs--the clothes that they have been wearing for their entire time in the detention centers.
The shelter provides a safe place for families to eat, bathe, sleep, and receive minimal medical care prior to making their way to their sponsors or families elsewhere in US. Typically, this means arranging bus tickets for rides that can take up to four days.
The shelter also provides clothing for these families. Obtaining adult clothing is fairly easy. But baby clothing is harder--as any parent knows.
That's where our story begins.
The Story
A month ago, a volunteer from Casa Alitas in Tucson, AZ, reached out with a request: did I have any baby clothes I could donate to migrant children?
The shelter has such a hard time finding baby clothing that they have to ration out how much a family receives. Typically, the ration is one pair of pants, per child. This rule holds true even when they might have to travel for a week. (Can you imagine having to travel for a week with only one set of clothes?)
As most moms do, I had a small mountain of old baby clothes my daughter had outgrown. Of course I would be willing to send them!
I began sending a box or two of baby clothes at a time, gathering them from our own collection, friends' donations, or buying in bulk from Goodwill.
Then I reached out to my Facebook mom network here in Madison, Wisconsin--would anyone like to throw in a few baby clothes in my next box? The answer was YES!!
After being posted and re-posted to various community groups, we have received an enormous outpouring of support, and we are SO GRATEFUL! Our hearts are full (and so are our basements!) and we are so proud of the community's response to this need. Madison is truly a generous place.
The Ask
Because of our community's awesome response, we have car loads and car loads of baby clothes to send. However, we need a way to pay for these clothes to be sent to the shelter!
Clothes are heavy and bulky, two things that add up when shipping items. I am asking for donations to help cover the costs of shipping boxes full of baby clothes to benefit migrant children at the Casa Alitas shelter in Tucson.
Our first shipment is targeted for Wednesday, July 3, with a second shipment scheduled for Tuesday, July 9. We are hoping to meet our goal by July 3 so that we can accept more clothing donations for the second shipment.
Any funds we raise over and above what we need will be donated to Casa Alitas! Currently, we are just focusing on getting the clothes we already have shipped. Our greatest need is funds to support that. If/when we need more clothes, we will send a message out!
**UPDATE**
Please read the July 3 update! It has GREAT NEWS and more on how you can help. TL/DR: we received such an outpouring of support through donations that we need more resources to ship these baby clothes! We are raising our fundraising goal to $10,000 to continue our work.
Hello, Angels! Thank you SO MUCH for your support! Since July 2019, your support shipped over 4,000 lbs of baby and children's clothing and hygiene supplies to asylum-seeking guests at Casa Alitas. You are incredible! As promised, we also directed funds to other "highest need" areas of the shelter, including $1,000 to the medical team to buy prescription medications (mainly diabetes medicines and antibiotics), and we also raised $500 to buy children's winter coats for guests traveling to colder climates.
We are continuing our work supporting the asylum-seekers at Casa Alitas through 2020--and as long as they need us.
We will use this GoFundMe platform as the primary method to raise money. To keep up-to-date on how this money is being used, please visit our website: www.AlitasAngels.com. As always, we will use money to send donated supplies. After that, we are using the funds to support the shelter in the area of highest need.
You can also find us on Facebook by searing for "Alitas Angels."
Carry on, Angels! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
-Maggie and Rachel
--------------------------
Hello!
TL/DR: I am asking for donations to help cover the costs of shipping boxes full of baby clothes to benefit migrant children at the Casa Alitas shelter in Tucson.
The Background
Casa Alitas is a shelter in Tucson, AZ, that serves asylum-seeking families almost exclusively. These are families who have spent days or weeks in ICE detention centers, and who have been released. They have nothing except the clothes on their backs--the clothes that they have been wearing for their entire time in the detention centers.
The shelter provides a safe place for families to eat, bathe, sleep, and receive minimal medical care prior to making their way to their sponsors or families elsewhere in US. Typically, this means arranging bus tickets for rides that can take up to four days.
The shelter also provides clothing for these families. Obtaining adult clothing is fairly easy. But baby clothing is harder--as any parent knows.
That's where our story begins.
The Story
A month ago, a volunteer from Casa Alitas in Tucson, AZ, reached out with a request: did I have any baby clothes I could donate to migrant children?
The shelter has such a hard time finding baby clothing that they have to ration out how much a family receives. Typically, the ration is one pair of pants, per child. This rule holds true even when they might have to travel for a week. (Can you imagine having to travel for a week with only one set of clothes?)
As most moms do, I had a small mountain of old baby clothes my daughter had outgrown. Of course I would be willing to send them!
I began sending a box or two of baby clothes at a time, gathering them from our own collection, friends' donations, or buying in bulk from Goodwill.
Then I reached out to my Facebook mom network here in Madison, Wisconsin--would anyone like to throw in a few baby clothes in my next box? The answer was YES!!
After being posted and re-posted to various community groups, we have received an enormous outpouring of support, and we are SO GRATEFUL! Our hearts are full (and so are our basements!) and we are so proud of the community's response to this need. Madison is truly a generous place.
The Ask
Because of our community's awesome response, we have car loads and car loads of baby clothes to send. However, we need a way to pay for these clothes to be sent to the shelter!
Clothes are heavy and bulky, two things that add up when shipping items. I am asking for donations to help cover the costs of shipping boxes full of baby clothes to benefit migrant children at the Casa Alitas shelter in Tucson.
Our first shipment is targeted for Wednesday, July 3, with a second shipment scheduled for Tuesday, July 9. We are hoping to meet our goal by July 3 so that we can accept more clothing donations for the second shipment.
Any funds we raise over and above what we need will be donated to Casa Alitas! Currently, we are just focusing on getting the clothes we already have shipped. Our greatest need is funds to support that. If/when we need more clothes, we will send a message out!
**UPDATE**
Please read the July 3 update! It has GREAT NEWS and more on how you can help. TL/DR: we received such an outpouring of support through donations that we need more resources to ship these baby clothes! We are raising our fundraising goal to $10,000 to continue our work.
Organizer
Maggie Musgrave
Organizer
Madison, WI
