Immigrant Solidarity Team

The Immigrant Solidarity Team is concerned with helping immigrants and refugees to adjust to life in the United States. We work with local organizations to achieve this goal, including the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and RefugeeOne. We also engage in legislative advocacy and learning opportunities for the congregation. The IST welcomes all who are interested in working to build a better world for immigrants in the United States. We meet on the 3rd Saturday of the month at 4:00pm. At present we are meeting on ZOOM. Contact Maggie Wilson or Michelle Novak through REALM or at admin@ucevanston.org.

The Immigrant Solidarity Team (IST) works to establish and nurture long-term partnerships with local immigrant communities and organizations. UCE seeks to:

Provide appropriate resources for their unmet needs,
Be a useful connector among organizations, and
Educate and mobilize UCE members about immigration related events, projects and actions.

The IST has recently expanded its work to include the support of refugees as well. Here are some of our most recent projects:

In the summer of 2021 the IST encouraged UCE members to donate backpacks and gym shoes for refugee children by partnering with Refugee One.
In the fall of 2021 we sponsored a film viewing and discussion of La Bestia, a film about the dangers refugees face trying to travel from southern Mexico to the US border.
In the fall of 2021 and winter of 2022 our refugee team has raised over $10,000 to help a Syrian refugee family pay their rent. Some of the rent money was funded from the UCE Endowment.
In the winter of 2022 we have also begun to help out a family from Afghanistan as well.
Prior to the pandemic, members assisted with voter registration after citizenship swearing-in ceremonies in Chicago

Updates from Immigrant Solidarity Team

Syrian Refugee Family Update: October 22, 2021

We reached our $5000 fundraising goal! We are so excited, but please feel free to keep donating, as the need is great for the family. Rent is $1300 a month, so any donation helps them out. The Immigrant Solidarity Team thanks you for your generosity and support. The family is settling in, but it will take time. Carol Nielsen has gotten the mother a sewing machine as she sews for a living. Jane Kenamore is arranging rides for them to the doctor, so please reach out to Jane if you can help out with that as those arise.

We also had a few people ask us about the status of the Haj Khalaf family who we sponsored back in 2016 and who are related to this new family. Here’s an update about them:

Both Mohammad and Aya (who were young adults when they arrived) have gotten married. Aya and her husband just had their second son on 10/16/21 (pictured above). Mohammad and his wife have one child with another child on the way. They and the oldest sister (Beraa) and her husband have all moved to Louisville, KY. That leaves Aya and her husband and the youngest son (Uday) here in Skokie. Both Aya and Uday began college at Oakton in the fall of 2020. Aya is not attending this fall because of her pregnancy and Uday is now working full time to support his parents and taking a single class. Aya will go back to school pretty soon, hopefully. The parents continue to have health issues,but are doing okay.

Thanks again to the UCE community for your compassion and support.

October 21st, 2021|Categories: Immigrant Solidarity|

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