El Paso Community Foundation Funds Coordinator Position for Volunteers Assisting Migrants

A $61,000 grant from the Migrant Families Relief Fund enabled the hiring of Angelica Mata Lindstrom, a marketing and advertising professional, as the United Way of El Paso County’s new Volunteer Coordinator of Migrant Services. She is responsible for recruiting, coordinating and organizing volunteers for migrant services at hospitality centers. She’ll be working with the Annunciation House and other organizations dealing with the large numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in the El Paso area.

Additionally, the El Paso Community Foundation and The Prudential Foundation will provide $29,000 in operational support from the Migrant Families Relief Fund to Annunciation House, an organization that operates the largest network of shelters in El Paso and has served thousands of asylum seekers.

Since last December, the Community Foundation and The Prudential Foundation have provided $110,000 from the Migrant Families Relief Fund to help defray the rising cost of housing and transporting migrants. Left unmitigated, these rising costs threaten the financial stability of individuals, businesses and the broader El Paso community.

The Migrant Families Relief Fund was created in the summer of 2018 when migrant children were being separated from family members at the border. It provides grants to organizations assisting with migrants in various capacities. They are:

• Annunciation House, which provides refuge and transportation needs to migrants

• Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee, which helps reunite migrant families

• Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services, which provides legal services to immigrant children separated from their families

• Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, which provides legal services to migrants and parents separated from their families.

Donations may be made to epcf.org/families. All credit card and administrative fees are being waived by the Community Foundation — 100% of donations will pass through to provide direct services.