Venezuelan Asylum Seekers in Queens

Many of you have asked me how you could help out my new students, the recently-arrived asylum seekers who were bused here from Texas and are living in shelters here in Queens.

We've been working diligently to get grants and figure out how to meet their needs with existing government and non-profit resources. We have managed to get them set up with some donated clothes and gift cards to local restaurants (as most of them do not have access to a kitchen.)

I would like to give them each a Target gift card to cover other things they might need, or to provide holiday gifts for their children. Every one of my students is a young mother in their 20s, and most have at least two kids.

I would like to deliver these gift cards to them on Tuesday, December 20th, the last day of our school semester. 

If you would like to help give these new Americans a warm welcome and a happy holiday, please donate whatever you can. They have experienced an incredibly traumatic few months that most of us can not even comprehend, and those traumas continue today as they navigate a new life in a new country. I know they will appreciate your gift deeply.