Good Neighbors Fund for Asylum Seekers

{JANUARY 22, 2020}

Hello to all of you and a big thank you for all of your contributions and care over the past year. We are going to close up shop here on this GoFundMe – we’ve got a more formal fundraising structure now – but we’re still here and we’d still love to be in contact with all of you.

Here’s a short note to let you all know what’s changed, what we’ve done:

All the best info about what we do will be at the website for the Western Massachusetts Asylum Support Network - https://www.westernmassasylumsupport.com/

We’re now a project that is fiscally sponsored by the Peace Development Fund, a 501(c)(3) public foundation based out of Amherst, Massachusetts. That means that donors can make tax-deductible contributions and that the Peace Development Fund takes care of the administrative work, while we are able to completely focus on our mission. We remain 100% volunteer run, and all of your donations go to directly supporting asylum seekers.

Here’s our mission, which we got down on paper this past year: By offering a welcoming place to land and a network of broad-based accompaniment support, we will help asylum-seekers operate from a place of increased safety and well-being while navigating their asylum processes.

In the past year, we’ve:

o   Brought 26 (!) asylum seekers to live in Western Massachusetts. We are in touch with several more who are waiting in detention and in Tijuana, who will be calling this area home soon.

o   Had 14 different families serve as housing sponsors to help get our friends out of detention.

o   Trained 81 volunteers to help out with the various tasks of our network.

Most importantly, we’ve struggled to build some semblance of community and dignity in a strange world. One element of our new structure – in order to assure that our decisions are led by those most impacted – is that asylum seekers are now represented in everything the Western Massachusetts Asylum Support Network does, from our central coordinating committees to other groups. We’re proud of what we’ve built and we look forward to this structure meeting new challenges that come up, even as we acknowledge the weight of the immigration machine that continues to visit its horrors on our friends, daily.

For my part, your support of this project has really meant a lot. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and send big bubbles of gratitude to each of you. If you want to be involved and stay in touch, please drop me a line – jonathan.donald.jenner at gmail dot com.  

Please head over to our website to see how you can get involved. Love, light, strength, and hope to all of us and all of our friends in 2020 and beyond.

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(original post from FEBRUARY 2019)

Hello Good People,

I’m asking for money. That’s strange and hard for me, but so is the world. I’m asking for your money to help support some asylum seekers as they navigate their way through the hoops and hallways of trying to find a dignified place to sleep and eat and work and laugh and raise their children.

Recently, I’ve been in Tijuana doing some work with asylum seekers through Sanctuary Caravan. A few asylum seekers I’ve met there are coming to live in Western Massachusetts, after some harrowing weeks in detention after being called to present themselves by ICE. Thanks to many wonderful and courageous people & organizations, I’m able to connect them with housing, legal assistance, English classes, therapy, and other resources. Some of these are free or low bono, some aren’t. And then there’s other costs – jackets, jeans, school supplies, food (and a few flavors from home), flowers, light bills, plane tickets (SD to BOS), blankets, bus fare, backed up bills for commissary while in CBP detention (toothpaste - $9.00; one voicemail - $1.20), court fees for ICE appointments, and so on. That’s where I’m looking for your money, so that we can be the welcoming neighbors we talk about on those tricolor signs.

Right now, I’m looking for money for a mother and her two children fleeing some horrendous violence, looking to square things and get life back on track. They’ll be staying with me for a short time until they have more permanent housing. Unlike other fundraising campaigns, I can’t go into any other details or updates – their story simply isn’t mine to tell. If you’re in Western Mass, you may well meet them or see them, and I would encourage you to get to know them. Later, if appropriate, I may be able to share more.

I’m shooting for $5,000, and I know that’s ambitious. If you’ve got money, I’d love to have it, and will be very thankful. But I know that many of us don’t, and that’s ok. Maybe you could share this with your networks. Either way, thank you for reading this far, and blessings, love, and strength to all of you.

Any leftover money will be given directly to the family or used to help more friends currently in detention.