Mennonite Church Shelters Women and Children Refugees
Channel: NOWCastSA
Date: 2016-12-06

A Mennonite Church in San Antonio has become a living nativity scene, sheltering hundreds of refugee mothers and children who fled violence and poverty in Central America.

Immigration officials delivered more than 500 asylum-seeking women and children to the church on Dec. 3 and Dec. 4 2016 after a judge in Austin ruled that Texas could not license the detention centers where they were being held as child care facilities. The refugees were delivered in waves, some arriving at 2 a.m. in a driving thunderstorm.

The Interfaith Welcome Coalition, a network that welcomes refugees and RAICES, which provides legal services for refugees, are asking the community for donations of money, winter clothing, new underwear and socks, quiet non-battery children's toys and other items to help the women and children. Update: You can donate directly to the Interfaith Welcome Coalition at this site: https://www.gofundme.com/InterfaithWelcomeCoalition  . (Amazon wish list of needs here http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/1TW2J7P9GMNKO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_veCrybKJ942S3 )