Dear Friends and Supporters of IWR,
You likely don’t need us to tell you this is a tumultuous time for refugees and immigrants. Still, the realities faced by IWR’s refugee partners this spring mean they are especially in need of your help. Although all our partners relocated to Tompkins County because of crises in their home countries, IWR maintains a Crisis Fund for emergencies which occur here in their new community. At this moment, we have already spent our budgeted Crisis Funds for the year and urgently need an influx of cash for this purpose.
So far this year we have used the fund to support people in two groups: 1) those whose work permits related to temporary programs were prematurely revoked by the Trump administration and whose rent, utilities, and other basic expenses IWR paid until they could receive their asylum-based permits and 2) single-mother immigrant families who either were experiencing homelessness or have recently given birth and have no maternity leave or familial support systems locally. Without a replenishment of Crisis Funds, we will need to tell families in desperate situations that we can no longer keep them afloat at a time when they have no other resources.
Making matters worse, the Trump administration has now ended the automatic extension of work permits. Because manual extension is, by the administration’s design, causing tremendous backlogs, there is a very good chance even more families will be affected by gaps in permit validity. But there are things we can do to help. We can apply our collective resources to push back against the harmful impacts of federal actions.
Please help us meet our target of raising $80,000 this spring to ensure assistance is at the ready when it’s needed most. Thank you, as always, for everything you do to support refugees in Ithaca.
Sincerely,
Casey Verderosa, Executive Director
Douglas Stayman, Board Chair
Your support helps us provide a range of services to displaced people in our community:
- $50 provides Crisis Fund support for a family to use a laundromat for a month
- $260 provides 4 driving lessons to help one adult become mobile and access work and services
- $565 provides a work permit renewal fee for one person
- $750 provides a Global Roots scholarship for one child for a month
- $1,500 provides Crisis Fund support for a family’s monthly rent payment
Any amount you can give will be gratefully received and make a difference in people’s lives. Here are some notes IWR has received which demonstrate the impact of our work and of your support:
“I am truly grateful for your kind support. I feel deeply indebted to you all. A special thanks to [my volunteers] for driving me this morning and spending the start of their week supporting me. This means the world to me.”
“[My volunteer] shared the good news with me that you might be able to help my family and me with our difficult financial situation regarding the filing of our documents. I tried to describe all the required payments as clearly as possible. Before doing that, I also looked into every possible way to reduce the total cost. I cannot fully express how grateful I am to your organization for the support and help you provide. I truly don’t know how we would manage without you.”
Please consider becoming a monthly donor to help support our programs on an ongoing basis.
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