Deep in the Heart(break) of Texas

(from the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative)

Mary Vanderhoof, our former MSJC Asst. Director, recently traveled to the US/Mexico border to work with refugees and asylum-seekers entering this country. I encourage you to read her powerful, truly moving story of working with these people in their need and what one person was able to do to respond.

"I have recently returned from a week of service at the Humanitarian Respite Center (HRC) in McAllen, Texas... HRC offers food, shelter, and basic services to refugee families from Central America who have been released from detention by ICE to await an asylum hearing. In the past, I've served in Trenton NJ, Appalachia, and Uganda, but this was the hardest week of service I have ever experienced. It left my heart broken, but as Rumi once wrote, "The wound is where the light enters." 

I returned from Texas filled with the light of love and compassion for the refugee families, yearning to share that light and help others understand that these are not "bad hombres." They are fathers and mothers fleeing from gang violence, domestic violence, organized crime, human traffickers, and extreme poverty (e.g., starvation due to climate-change-provoked crop failures) who come to the US desperately seeking safety, security and a chance to support their family. 

(Read more...)

Mary ends her reflections this way:
What can I do now? I know I can't just go back to life here in New Jersey and not be changed by this experience. Whether it's advocacy with legislators, or sending cases of supplies to the Respite Center, or recruiting more volunteers to come with me when I return to McAllen in the fall, I must do something. If you feel the same, I'll be happy to send you ways you can help.

You can reach Mary at mary.vanderhoof@gmail.com