The El Paso Community Foundation, in partnership with the Prudential Foundation, granted $40,000 to Annunciation House to help pay for the mounting cost of housing undocumented migrant families seeking asylum in the United States.
Annunciation House has been filled to capacity with mostly Central American migrants fleeing poverty, hunger, and violence in their home countries. Annunciation House works with hotels and motels in the area to house more people in need, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials began leaving hundreds of migrants on the streets of downtown El Paso over the holiday season.
The organization is spending $150,000 a month for hotel rooms due to a lack of housing space at their shelters, according to media reports.
The Migrant Families Relief Fund was created in the El Paso Community Foundation last June after federal agents began separating migrant families on the U.S. side of the border. It has received small gifts from Community Foundations around the country, and a large gift from the Prudential Foundation.
The Fund benefits four organizations that assist migrants — Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services; Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center; the Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee; and Annuncation House.
“This is the second distribution from the Migrant Families Relief Fund, and Foundation staff felt the timing is crucial,” said Eric Pearson, President of the El Paso Community Foundation. “However, the immediacy of this response does not diminish the longer-term needs of these minors and families, offered by all of the organizations named in the Fund. We know that legal support and other services are important as well, and the Foundation wants to be thoughtful.”
The El Paso Community Foundation is waiving all credit card and administrative fees for the fund; 100% of donations will pass through to the four organizations so they can provide direct services.
To donate to the fund, call 915-533-4020 or go to epcf website.
