An Oak Park agency that helps local immigrants says it has an “urgent need” for community support and donations.
Migrant Ministry, an effort by Oak Park’s Catholic Parishes to provide aid to recent immigrants, is asking for donations of money, time and items as the group looks to help migrants and asylum seekers get settled in the area amid federal calls for a ramp-up in deportations.
Migrant Ministry relies on community support to fulfill its mission, agency leaders told Wednesday Journal. Donations of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and personal care items are a great need at the moment, according to Celine Woznica, its head of program development.
“Clothes are the most obvious donation, but we are only accepting summer clothes and our greatest needs are men’s small and medium T-shirts, shorts, and sweatpants,” Woznica said. “We can also use older boys’ and older girls’ clothes. We accept bedding, towels, shoes, and personal hygiene products. We always need new socks and new underwear for men, women, and children.”
The group said it served more than 600 people last month.
She said monetary donations don’t just support basic agency operations, they are needed to support a legal defense fund to support clients’ cases, rent assistance and help paying the newly increased fees related to asylum applications and work permits instated by the federal budget bill passed earlier this month.
“Financial donations are most welcome to help cover the cost of running the ministry as well as anticipated expenses with the newly passed budget bill which calls for charging $100 per asylum application and $550 for a work permit,” she said.
Donations of time are also deeply appreciated, as is engagement with the group’s core mission and beliefs. Woznica hopes that local volunteers can spend time and build relationships with the agency’s clients.
“Donations of time to get to know migrants and discover what a gift they are to our communities and our nation,” Woznica said. “We can always use overall solidarity and support. These are really difficult times, and many migrants are losing their jobs because their legal status is being stripped away. Subsequently, they lose their work permits and their jobs. Helping these young and eager workers to find other jobs would be a great support.”
This call for support in Oak Park, comes as nationwide Catholic charities face new federal scrutiny over their work with refugees and asylum seekers.
Earlier this year, the federal government terminated cooperation agreements with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for work related to children’s and refugee services. The bishops announced in April that they would not be seeking a renewal of that contract.
“The decision to reduce these programs drastically forces us to reconsider the best way to serve the needs of our brothers and sisters seeking safe harbor from violence and persecution,” the bishops said in a statement. “As a national effort, we simply cannot sustain the work on our own at current levels or in current form. As USCCB cooperative agreements for refugee resettlement and children’s programs end, we will work to identify alternative means of support for the people the federal government has already admitted to these programs. We ask your prayers for the many staff and refugees impacted.”
The bishops were also seeking payment of $24 million from the government for services already performed related to those agreements as of last month, according to OSV News, a wire service that covers the Catholic Church.
Both the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA were also among the more than 200 organizations to receive letters in a congressional probe of NGOs accused of using federal funds to aid “inadmissible aliens,” last month.