The Inspiring Work Being Done To Show What Jesus Would Do At The Border

[kpete]

The Inspiring Work Being Done To Show What Jesus Would Do At The Border
BY JACK JENKINS POSTED ON JULY 24, 2014 AT 10:18 AM UPDATED: JULY 24, 2014 AT 11:50 AM


Children’s clothing set aside for young immigrants. Donations come a range of sources, but especially from faith groups.

“We helped 200 people that first night,” Pimentel said. “They are our brothers and sisters that are in need. They come into our country, and they find themselves in a terrible state. They need to take a shower and they need time to eat. The children are very dehydrated. You cannot help but help them.
They need care, and they need love.”

You cannot help but help them. They need care, and they need love.

The operation has grown significantly over the past month, due in part to increased media coverage of the crisis. The county pitched in and provided mobile tents to the church, so they can offer temporary shelter for immigrants who want to sleep. Massive donations of supplies from outside groups have started pouring in. Other worshipping communities from a variety of religious traditions are also sending workers to help, and now dozens of volunteers scuttle back and forth across the busy space at any given time, each sporting sea-green vests with “Catholic Charities” scrawled across the back.

Their work is ultimately about providing simple hospitality. Families arrive at Sacred Heart in waves — two groups in the morning, two or three more in the afternoon. Each family is assigned a sponsor who accompanies them throughout their stay. They are given a hot meal — usually soup, water, and Pedialyte for nutrients — while their sponsor searches through the piles of clothes and shoes to find things that fit them. The raw number of immigrants varies per day, reaching as high as 277 on “big days” and bottoming out just below 100 on “little days.” More than 3,500 people have been helped since the station was erected last month, 1,000 more were assisted by a sister operation set up in nearby Brownsville, Texas. Depending on when their bus leaves, families stay at the center for anywhere between half an hour and half a day, just long enough to shower, rest, and process what they’ve been through.

“You can see the fatigue on their faces,” a volunteer working the front desk said. “But they also just seem grateful that someone is actually welcoming them. Sometimes they break down in tears because no one has welcomed them like that before.”

MORE:
http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/07/24/3463127/texas-border-religion/

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.