USCRI Vermont Neighbor Relief Fund

Dear friends,

I am reaching out to you today to ask for your support as we face an unprecedented challenge.  In the last two weeks, it feels as though life has changed completely. COVID-19 has upended our community, forcing closings, cancellations, and unprecedented interruptions. USCRI Vermont staff is, as always, serving and supporting refugees and immigrants who make our state their home.  

And we need your help! Please consider contributing to USCRI Vermont Neighbor Relief Fund in support of critical outreach and relief services to families dealing with the growing problems of food insecurity, recent lost wages, and housing displacement as a result of this crisis. 

We are already seeing that our clients are being hit hard as this crisis unfolds. Many refugees and immigrants are employed as hourly or temporary workers and often within the service industry at hotels and restaurants. As families experience lost work hours, unpaid sick leave, and problems with food access, we know that the need for emergency funding to provide basic necessities and focused family assistance is going to escalate. We have started to prepare for the long-term consequences.

At times such as this when the earth under us is constantly shifting, as we hear one piece of scary news after another. It's been particularly trying for our staff and for me, especially those who have been refugees. But last Monday, when we took 15 care packages to refugee families, we felt for the first time in days that our feet were on solid ground. We knew how to help and we were doing it. And we want to do more.

We are asking you to consider making a donation today to support our ongoing work to help families cope with this sudden emergency that threatens family stability. 

Your gift will be used to help provide: 

• Assistance to families for household necessities after a sudden loss of income;
• Medical attention/necessary medicines for an individual with no health insurance;
• Care packages of non-perishable food, child-care supplies, cleaning products;
• Emergency transportation solutions to maintain access to employment.

With your support, families will be able to weather temporary setbacks without losing precious progress toward self-sufficiency. Your donation today will be a welcome gift of stability to a family that has already been uprooted at least once by violence and persecution. Whether $100, $25, or $10, your gift will make a difference. 

Thank you for everything you have done and continue to do to welcome and lift up your new neighbors.

Yours,

Amila 

P.S. In addition to a one-time donation to USCRI Vermont, I hope you will consider becoming a monthly sustainer. Your monthly donation helps to provide over 700 refugees and immigrants a year with cultural orientation and adjustment support, employment services, mental health support, and access to ESL and educational resources. With your support, USCRI Vermont clients experience a continuum of services that empower them to flourish!