A Binational Young Adult Gathering is taking place Saturday, 3/18/2023, 10am-4pm. More information and registration @ donorbox.org/events/419139. Meet at 10am at Carl’s Jr. (105 5th St., Douglas AZ 85607), to cross to Agua Prieta, Sonora.
Come learn about service, justice and faith on the U.S./Mexico borderlands with other young adults from the U.S. and Mexico.
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Lenny stands next to the bank of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. He can see the U.S. from where he stands in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, but he can’t get there. A former soldier in the Venezuelan armed forces, he decided to leave his home country looking for greater opportunities.
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We share ELCA Advocacy Connections for November/December 2022, from the ELCA advocacy office in Washington, D.C. – the Rev. Amy E. Reumann, Senior Director. Highlights include: Homelessness And Affordable Housing Awareness; Global Food Security Action; Status Of Title 42; World Aids Day Demands Attention; and Respect For Marriage Act.
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The European Union is a world leader when it comes to replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy. But that won’t be enough to keep Europe warm this winter, as a fuel crisis the likes of which hasn’t been seen since World War II grips the continent.
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Accompanying Migrant Minors with Protection, Advocacy, Representation and Opportunities (AMMPARO) responds to recent arrivals of migrants by bus.
“Those who cross through our country to get to a better place to live are human beings with needs who eat, who drink and who need to rest. Let us not allow rejection and xenophobia to be more visible than God’s great acts of justice and love” —Moises Perez Espino, Biblical Studies; Old Testament and Migration
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Over the last 9 months, your support has made it possible for 889 residents at our partner shelter, La Casa de Misericordia y de Todas Naciones, to take the next steps in their immigration journeys. Of the 889 residents, 439 are children under the age of 17; all school-age children that, we pray, will be enrolling for school this coming fall and taking some important first steps toward a new future.
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With so many lives in danger, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) call Lutherans on this World Refugee Day, June 20, to continue to honor our legacy of generous and compassionate welcome and advocacy for those who seek refuge and safety, including those who have resettled in the United States.
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In this report, Rev. David Chavez shares a video (English with Spanish subtitles) on the joint Episcopal/Lutheran Borderlands ministry, and we also share a slideshow from Cruzando Fronteras and Casa de la Misericordia y de Todos las Naciones.
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Churches of the Northeast Valley Consortium loaded to a huge van full of food and baby necessities and delivered them to Casa de La Misericordia in Nogales, Mexico, which provides sanctuary for asylum seekers awaiting processing at the border. In this post we share photos of the trip.
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Congratulations to the Northeast Valley Consortium (Christ the Lord, New Journey, New Covenant, Living Water and Ascension) for being honored with Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest’s 2022 Partnership Excellence award during National Volunteer Appreciation Week (April 17 – 23, 2022). The award recognized their support for Afghan families coming to Arizona.
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The announcement of the Biden administration of an end date for Title 42 is a welcome step forward towards restoring access to the right to seek asylum. Rather than promote a safe, orderly or humane process, Title 42 wound up increasing risk and vulnerability.
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Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest is hosting a donation drive for families expecting a baby, who recently gave birth, or who are adopting a baby. Please deliver donations prior to April 27, 2022.
Many of the families we serve do not have available resources or relatives nearby, and they need your support. Learn more at lss-sw.org/baby-shower-drive.
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Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), writes: “The humanitarian implications of a full Russian invasion must be a central consideration in the U.S. and international response. Thousands could lose their lives, and millions more could lose the only home they have ever known. The U.S. and its allies must prepare to respond to the very real possibility of a mass exodus of Ukrainian refugees. Protecting the displaced cannot merely be an afterthought.”
Read the full statement in this post or on LIRS.org.
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Ascension Lutheran Church in Paradise Valley is hosting a panel discussion on refugee resettlement, Thursday, 3/10/2021, 1 – 2:30 pm. View flyer here.
The panel will consist Connie Phillips and Charlotte Shurtz of Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, and Solveig Muus with Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona. RSVP at alcpv.org under special events or call the office at (480) 948-6050.
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Join Lutheran Disaster Response, ELCA Ammparo and ELCA Advocacy in their webinar, “Boldly Serving Our Afghan Neighbors: A Call for Congregational Accompaniment and Co-Sponsorship,” Tuesday, 2/8/2022, 5 pm MST, 4 pm PST. Register here.
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Across the United States and over the years, places of worship and people of faith have been key partners in welcoming refugees, asylum seekers and others in need of hospitality. ELCA members and congregations have recently poured in their concern, prayers, and offers of assistance for uprooted Afghan neighbors following the end of the long war in Afghanistan.
We share a video and two posts from AMMPARO: an overview of the situation, and one on the Urgent Need for Congregational Accompaniment of Afghan refugees. An information session will be held February 8, 2022, at 6 p.m. Central time, and we’ll share the link when we receive it.
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Saturday, December 18, was International Migrants Day, a day set aside by the United Nations to raise awareness and focus attention on the 281 million people around the world where are on the move, in search of peace, stability, security and an opportunity for new life. In 2020, more than 3.6% of people around the world were migrants.
In this podcast, Giovana Oaxaca, the ELCA’s program director for migration policy, joins Ryan Cumming of ELCA World Hunger to talk about the realities of migration and immigration policy.
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Stirred by the need to help resettle Afghan refugees, a team of pastoral and lay leaders from four Northeast Valley Conference churches—Living Water (Scottsdale), New Journey (Fountain Hills), New Covenant (Scottsdale), and Christ the Lord (Carefree), known collectively as the NE Valley Consortium—gathered enough goods to completely furnish two two-bedroom homes and raised $30,000 for an emergency fund.
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This holiday season, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest (LSS-SW) is collecting 1,300 new queen size bedsheets for older adults and people with disabilities. Learn more about this program here.
Donations delivered before December 13, 2021, will be distributed as gifts to clients in time for Christmas. Your gift of bedsheets delivers comfort and love to neighbors who truly deserve it. Thank you.
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For folk musician Joe Troop, a 2019 visit to the U.S.-Mexico borderlands opened his eyes to the suffering experienced by migrants trying to enter the United States. Two years later, he returned to Nogales, to volunteer at a migrant shelter with Cruzando Fronteras.
The experience that inspired him to write a song, Mercy for Migrants, performed with Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn and Trey Boudreaux. Read the article in Episcopal News Service and hear the song on YouTube.
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