Many of you remember Holly Herman as the Administrator of the Southwest Conference office for several years. Holly retired three years ago and is now attending a Presbyterian church in Tempe. In February, the pastor of a small Methodist church in downtown Phoenix visited their Mission/Social Justice/Peace (MSJP) committee and talked about how they had begun taking in asylum seekers starting on New Year's Eve. They are a very small church, yet still take in 50-100 refugees every week.
The MSJP committee decided to assist by collecting clothes and "stuff," and then began providing a meal and grocery supplies every week. The congregation caught the energy and Holly stepped up to coordinate this effort. Eventually this led to the church starting its own hosting program.
Naturally, this all costs money, it takes lots of volunteers, and there is much work yet to do. So a call went out to the clergy in the area, and the East Valley Network was born. Members are from area Disciples of Christ, Methodist, Unitarian, Jewish, Muslim, UCC, and Episcopal worship communities. A local Spanish Club heard about the Network and recruited its members to help translate. And other "friends of friends" and community members (a hairdresser, gym trainer, elementary school teacher, etc.) also signed on.
The first event was a volunteer training meeting with All Hands AZ, a collective of organizers and volunteers assisting asylum seekers. Over 120 people from network churches showed up. All Hands AZ presented an overview of services it coordinates, such as, host sites, a clothing bank, driver pool, host family pool, medical teams, and on-site volunteers.
“After learning it is legal to apply for asylum, Holly arranged for us to receive some alarming information. Since January of 2019, 168,000 asylum seekers have been released in Texas, California, and Arizona. Phoenix receives 250 per day, and 45,000 have been released in Phoenix since January of 2019. We needed to get going, and Holly offered us numerous ways to help: cook, feed people, house people, offer transportation, donate goods, sort stuff, fill backpacks, offer medical help, translate, clean up, wash the towels, sweep the floor. There was something for anyone and everyone to do. We were instructed to take no pictures, and to reveal no housing locations or information about our guests. We were to simply roll up our sleeves, get to work, follow instructions, and offer extravagant hospitality. Every faith group imaginable responded with food, clothing, medical supplies, showers on wheels, toys, and traveling supplies. We had a mission greater than ourselves, and that was the universal statement of faith. This mission required the leadership of someone like Holly Herman.
“On the evening of our first gathering of guests and volunteers, there was a calm hush in the large room and a sense of angels’ wings hovering above. Children played quietly with toys as their parents enjoyed long awaited showers, good food was served, and there was a communal exhale that indicated safety.”
- Dr. Kristina “Tina” Campbell
Currently, two of the network churches do onsite hosting and the other faith communities help with supplies and volunteers. At the first hosting at the Presbyterian church, 124 volunteers showed up! Sixty-three were from the local church and 61 from network churches. Since its beginning a couple months ago, one of the churches agreed to bring dinner to a host church every month, and two other congregations have agreed to take on two weeks per month of the downtown church support. Churches share clothes, a shower trailer, sleeping mats, car seats, and other supplies with hosting churches. The network has taken in another small Hispanic church that accepts 50-100 refugees every week.
We don't know where this is going or how long it will last. What we do know is that, for the 24-48 hours that asylum seekers are in the care of a network church, they will be greeted with smiles and kindness, be fed, bathed, and clothed, treated with respect and compassion, and assisted on their way to their sponsors.
“No olvidéis la hospitalidad, porque por esta algunos, sin saberlo, hospedaron ángeles.” - Hebreos 13:2
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” -Hebrews 13:2
Contact the conference office for information on how you can assist with asylum seekers.