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Reflections from an Emergency Grant Recipent
Over the past few months, the Conference, with the support of the National UCC, has provided grants of up to $1,000 to respond to local needs reported by UCC clergy and leaders in the wake of the surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minnesota. Churches of all sizes and locations received the grants. Below is a note one church shared with the Conference.
Dear Minnesota Conference,
Thank you so much for the grants that have supported the food pantry we started this past winter. We could not be doing this without you.
When people were scared to leave their homes this past winter, the main food shelf in town was not offering deliveries. We partnered with community volunteers to bring food to people’s homes.
One of the things that made outreach complicated last winter in our town was that not many trusted relationships existed in our town between the people who were being targeted and the people who were not being targeted. Someone who was known and trusted in multiple communities worked hard to facilitate the food deliveries, but this individual has now moved away. As we continue our food pantry ministry, we are starting to build relationships that can serve as bridges between our divided communities.
After people began to venture out again, we continued our food pantry, hosting open hours instead of deliveries. Need is still very high, and the effects of increased immigration enforcement continue.
We hear reports that people without their work papers are not finding the work that was available to them last year, and if they find the work, their hours are often cut. For example, a mother of young children is working on farms for $10 an hour, but her hours have been cut to half a day. Adding to her insecurity, a whole crew of farm workers was detained in a neighboring town less than two weeks ago. This woman’s husband also was deported while at work. Reportedly, he remains hospitalized in his home country after contracting pneumonia in detention, where food and clean water were scarce, and where large groups of people were imprisoned together in crowded conditions.
Many people in our community are struggling to buy food and pay rent. We have heard that people are doubling up on housing because of financial strain but then getting in trouble with landlords for exceeding the number of people allowed on a lease.
We have heard that our food pantry has provided practical help to our guests, and also emotional relief as they say it helps to know that people care about them. We are so grateful to the Minnesota Conference for providing support for the guests and for our church as volunteers put in countless hours to do the work we feel Christ calls us to do. Your grant, together with the donations of so many community members, has given us time so our ministry can continue as we seek to make it financially sustainable.
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