Area UMs raising significant funds for migrants
Go to the bottom of this page to make a donation.
United Methodists are called to welcome and assist the sojourner. During the past year, thousands of sojourners, migrants seeking new lives in the United States, are being used as political pawns, being bussed by leaders in Texas and Arizona, without resources or information, to a variety of cities, including Washington, D.C.
The Baltimore-Washington Conference, Capitol Hill UMC, and Beacon of Light at Emory UMC in D.C. have been working with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid (MSMA), which comprises community organizations and hundreds of individual volunteers (Peace House DC, Beloved Community Incubator, East of the River Mutual Aid, and Sanctuary DMV) committed to supporting migrants arriving in D.C.
Since the first bus arrived from Texas in April 2022, we have been showing up to welcome our new neighbors through solidarity, not charity. Over 1,000 families have settled in the D.C. region. We continue to welcome our new neighbors with radical hospitality and show up in solidarity to call for improved shelter conditions and access to resources.
The D.C. migrant family shelters stopped accepting new families in April 2023, which means women and children are being put out in the streets, with many living in the cars of families in the shelters. This fall, D.C. began evicting families from the shelters with little to no planning or support to help them successfully transition.
Over time, our work has shifted from welcoming buses to resettlement to a more resource-intensive effort, so we are seeking to raise $45,000 to help sustain our work into the coming year. To accomplish this goal, we need your help. Your financial contributions will:
Raise the roof — support our ongoing resettlement work for hundreds of families by helping fund our efforts to furnish the homes of new migrant families and pay the rent for our transitional housing. Beacon of Light at Emory UMC has hosted immigrant families in our transitional housing program.
Meet basic needs — Capitol Hill UMC hosts our biweekly free store, where families can come to access gently used clothes, coats, and shoes as well as new underwear, socks, and hygiene items. These items are greatly needed among newly arrived families and those who arrived in warmer months.
Your funds provide:
- $50 = a phone, an important lifeline
- $100 = jacket + backpack at the freestore
- $500 = wrap-around perinatal support for 1 expecting mother
- $1000 = furnishes a home, including moving costs
- $3000 = 1 month of rent in MSMA’s transitional housing
Online donations can be made using the form below or by texting MIGRANT to 410-220-2402.
Or, mail a check made payable to “BWC Treasurer” with “migrant” in the memo field to: Baltimore-Washington Conference Center, 11711 E. Market Place, Suite 1, Fulton, MD, 20759; ATTN: Dr. Emma Arely Escobar.
Questions? Contact Emma Escobar, the conference Coordinator of Hispanic-Latino Ministries and Community Organizing.