Thanks and Giving

At the Thanks & Giving program this week, Marti Michael spoke about the work she has done with refugees. The next phase of this work is to go down to Mexico, where she will be joining other volunteers (there are no NGOS there). Conditions at these makeshift refugee camps are quite bad. Here are some details about this upcoming trip:

The Trip to the Texas Border to Volunteer to Help Asylum Seekers (Brownsville, Texas to Matamoros, Mexico) will be from Thursday, January 23 to Thursday, January 30, 2020.

The trip is an opportunity to provide direct aid, learn firsthand what is happening, meet the asylum seekers and their stories. The organizers are looking for a maximum of 12 people, plus the tour's three leaders. The total cost to each participant for the trip will be about $1500. Participants are also expected to raise funds or contribute their own for food shopping, which will include meals for the asylum seekers (suggested amount, $300).

The group will join Team Brownsville at a downtown shelter to cook hot dinners and then walk them across the International Bridge to serve to asylum seekers living on the plaza in Matamoros, Mexico; help teachers from Texas and Mexico at the joyous school held on Sunday mornings on the Plaza in Matamoros; buy and bring what the teachers need, including art supplies, notebooks, and Spanish/English books; provide supplies to the families living in tents or under tarps on the Plaza (clean underwear and socks, baby formula and diapers, toiletries, blankets, toys, warm clothing appropriate to nights in Mexico in January); travel one or two times to McAllen, Texas (a one-hour drive) to volunteer with Catholic Charities, providing assistance to families of those in detention in McAllen and those legally released by ICE into the US, awaiting their asylum hearing.

Kosher food and Shabbat observance is available.
Contact Leah Ferster at leahferster1953@gmail.com for details.
For more information or to reserve your place, email NYtoBrownsville2020@gmail.com.