Welcome and Respite in Albuquerque

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I received this update from Jim Barclay, Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountain and share it with the members Rocky Mountain Synod as we continue our call to welcome our refugee and migrant neighbors, offer radical hospitality at the Border, and live a bold public witness.

As you may already know, Albuquerque has recently been welcoming families that have been released from detention by federal immigration authorities.  This is very similar to the work that Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains (LFSRM) was engaged in last summer in partnership with the City of Albuquerque and many other dedicated organizations. This program is currently being provided as an extension of the Annunciation House network that until recently was made up of welcome sites in El Paso and Las Cruces.  That effort has now expanded to include sites in Albuquerque, due to overwhelming numbers of detainees being released in El Paso and Las Cruces. 
LFSRM joined a broad collaborative of caring community organizations and congregations in welcoming 50 of nearly 350 family members to Albuquerque beginning March 16, 2019.  We were able to provide food, clothing, lodging, travel arrangements, and a short respite for families to join their sponsoring relatives elsewhere in the country.  Since then, LFSRM has continued to welcome additional families (45-50 persons) once each week, and due to increasing demand, we have agreed to welcome 100 persons next week, with the hope that we can continue to welcome large numbers going forward. We expect that our “Welcome and Respite” program will extend well into the summer, or as long as federal policies/procedures and private funding allow. We may also need to expand the program to additional communities in New Mexico and perhaps Colorado, but there are no such plans underway at this time.
LFSRM feels incredibly fortunate to have had strong partners assisting us ever since the first group arrived. Partners at the LFSRM welcome site include: the City of Albuquerque; Annunciation House; St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church; First Presbyterian Church; The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints; The Rocky Mountain Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service; Community of Joy Lutheran Church; All Saints Lutheran Church; Luther House; Albuquerque Mennonite Church; and volunteers from throughout the community.
LFSRM and all of our partners are stretched thin but are continuing to do heroic and holy work in welcoming the stranger and reunifying them with extended families across the country. We are honored to be able to do so and very grateful to work shoulder to shoulder with truly inspiring people and organizations in the communities of Albuquerque, El Paso and Las Cruces.
At this time, we are in need of additional congregational and individual involvement, to appropriately support the families traveling through Albuquerque and avoid overextending volunteers and staff. Our vision is to have a strong cadre’ of committed volunteers.
The facility where the families are assisted is very centrally located in Albuquerque and Volunteer Opportunities are listed here
Financial Support: LFSRM is currently spending dollars donated during phase 1 of our family reunification program in July of 2018. We are committed to welcoming weekly arrivals of families released from detention as long as our financial resources allow. Your support will help stretch our services beyond what we can fund alone.
Walmart Gift Cards: Cards in increments of $20 are great for families as they travel across the country. Also needed are international telephone cards. These items can be dropped off or mailed directly to our Albuquerque office at the address below.
If you would like to make a cash donation, we are asking that you do so by credit cardthrough our website:  www.lfsrm.org and designate it for the “Welcome and Respite Program“.
If you would rather mail a check, you may send it to our Albuquerque office or to our Denver office, and mark, “Welcome and Respite Program” in the memo section of the check. 
All gifts of cash or gift cards will receive an acknowledgment from LFSRM for tax purposes.

Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains           Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains
 4105 Silver Avenue SE                                      363 S. Harlan St.; #200
Albuquerque, NM 87108                                     Denver, CO 80226
Attn: Aaron DuBay, Program Director                   Attn: Development Office
Ph. 505-933-7032                                              Ph. 303-922-3433

Thank you for walking with the vulnerable through services that heal, strengthen and provide hope!

Jim Barclay
President and CEO
Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains

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