Urgent: Housing & healthcare for asylum-seeking friend Alpha

SUCCESS! Alpha has secured housing on the same block as the L train making for easy access to medical care and his community engagements! Alpha wants to thank all who have supported him <3

*For (still very necessary) funds, especially as he moves in and furnishing costs are relevant, you can Venmo @wildergeier to avoid the 2.9% gofundFee, but donating thru here is still great too! We are so grateful for all the money we've raised thus far, and though it may seem like an abundance, we are still openly welcoming funds as the money goes fast between rent, furnishing, and medical costs.*

*text or call 2 1 6-2 6 2-2 1 2 7 with any job leads for Alpha, ie. line cook*

Hello friends,

Tompkins Distro is organizing an extremely high-priority fundraiser for our beloved friend and comrade Alpha.

Alpha is a Senegalese asylum seeker fleeing violence in his home country who dreams of someday being able to send money back to his family. He volunteers countless hours as a leader of our ongoing mutual aid project in Tompkins Square Park, and is also an essential part of the community at EVLoves & the broader East Village. Every week he brightens our distro with his beaming smile, directing the flow of food and donations and uplifting everyone around him. If you have been involved in our distro we’re sure you know and love Alpha.

On February 1st, the City randomly evicted Alpha from his home of more than 10 months at the Hall Street shelter despite pleas from doctors, lawyers, and even the shelter staff themselves who have befriended and gone to bat for him. The city reassigned Alpha to the shelter at Creedmoor, the infamous former psychiatric institution known for its inhumane conditions, located an hour and a half outside of the city, where a fatal stabbing occurred just last week.

Alpha is neurodivergent and has ongoing health issues that have been exacerbated by the crowded and unhygienic conditions in the shelter system, and require constant doctor's visits. Because of Alpha’s worsening health, his doctors have written to the city attesting that it is unsafe and unacceptable for Alpha to have a placement so far away from his medical care. Having supported people at the Creedmoor shelter in the past, we have no doubt that if Alpha is forced to stay at Creedmoor his health and safety are at extreme risk. We are working with the New York Legal Aid Society and other orgs to petition the city for accommodations, but time has run out. Alpha needs a place to stay immediately where he can get on his feet and most importantly continue to attend his doctor’s appointments.

To this end, we are crowd-sourcing for the main expense: rent. With these funds, we will get Alpha a sublet room or apartment within an acceptable distance from his doctors, with any extra used for living essentials like a mattress and to give Alpha some security as he starts living independently in the city.

This is what community care looks like. If you feel angry and scared about the dehumanizing and racist anti-immigrant policies being enacted in this country, this is something tangible you can do to protect your neighbors. Alpha is the best of us. Our community needs him. Even as we drove away from Hall Street shelter without a destination, he was singing in the car; his kindness and dedication to those around him reminds us all that we always have something to give.

For transparency: the money both from here and Venmo will go to Alpha's close friend Wilder's bank account initially, out of which he will continue paying Alpha's rent. All of the money will either go straight from Wilder's account -> rental payment, and additional funds will end up in Alpha's bank account. Full receipts available.