Volunteers Needed! Ways to Volunteer to Help Asylum Seekers Including “Bus Migrants”

Riverside Church members organized the Sojourners Ministry in 1999 to offer moral and practical support to asylum seekers in immigration detention and post-release.

Since it began, Sojourners has continued to help meet the evolving needs of asylum seekers and other vulnerable immigrants, who today include tens of thousands of “bus migrants,” asylum seekers bused to New York since 2022 by the governors of Texas and other U.S.-Mexico border states.

The following Sojourners partners are operative and need volunteers. Please reach out to them directly. Feel free to contact Frances Connell, Sojourners Coordinator, at frances.connell@gmail.com for additional information.

ST. PAUL AND ST. ANDREW UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
263 W. 86th St. at West End Ave. (212) 362-3179

Contact Rev. Lea Matthews at Lea@stpaulandstandrew.org or susie@susiereiss.com and see https://stpaulandstandrew.org/give/

St. Paul & St. Andrew UMC offers several ways to help support our newly arriving neighbors. RSVP to Rev. Matthews or Sign up online.

The community shelters five young men. Sign up to provide meals for themanytime throughout the week.

Sign up to spend two hours or so on Sundays to sort clothing and help set up the Monday resource fair.

Sign up to volunteer at the church’s robust and expansive Resource Fair on Mondays, where guests can get legal guidance, clothing support, sign up for benefits, see a nurse, connect with mutual aid partners and community, learn more about the immigration process, and have a space to sit and eat with others sharing this experience. Tasks include welcoming guests, sorting and distributing clothing and other essentials, and serving breakfast.

Support folks settling into South Bronx shelters with La Miranda’s partnership, driving up fresh food and dry goods to turn into good meals shared with their community, along with taking welcome backpacks to shelters. Contact lea@stpaulandstandrew.org.

Team TLCNYC (https://ttlcnyc.org) – Visit the team’s website and/or contact main organizers Ilze Thielman and Carol Gross at teamtlcnyc@gmail.com for current needs, which include volunteering for the Little Shop of Kindness, a clothes and food pantry at 12 W. 40th St. between 5th and 6th Avenues (inside the Seventh-day Adventist Center). Sign up at Team TLC-NYC: Team TLC NYC’s Little Shop of Kindness (signupgenius.com)

TEAM TLC NYC also needs donated shoes and clothing. Check the following online registries at Target  and Amazon. Keep your receipts if you wish to be reimbursed.

https://www.centralamericanlegal.info/

You don’t need to be a lawyer. They train you. It is better if you speak Spanish or if you can bring a translator.

Visit www.firstfriendsnjny.org for volunteer opportunities

New: First Friends is training individuals to accompany asylum seekers to their hearings. To get notified about upcoming training dates and other volunteer opportunities please fill out this volunteer interest form.

Help asylum seekers fill out forms and get support for your own efforts in this demanding work. https://www.rifnyc.org/trainings

www.nyic.org

Join NYIC’s advocacy initiatives, including for New York City’s care for bus migrants.

www.nysylc.org/abolish-ice-nynj

Along with other groups, they were highly effective in getting the closure of NJ county jails being used as immigration detention centers.

The Hotline is currently looking for bilingual volunteers who are passionate about abolishing detention! 

Freedom for Immigrants is devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit-driven system. The National Immigration Detention Hotline receives calls from people in detention facilities across the US. The National Hotline allows us to support organizers inside of detention, document abuses, hold ICE accountable and provide advocacy to people in detention. You can learn more about the volunteer position and requirements here.  

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Senior Hotline Manager at adiaz@freedomforimmigrants.org.

Contact the NY or NJ offices of any of the following:

Church World Service (cwsjerseycity@cwsglobal.org, or volunteersjc@cwsglobal.org)

HIAS, Catholic Charities, International Rescue Committee, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services. Also see www.welcomecorps.org

Riverside Church Sojourners Ministry Coordinator Frances Connell offers this moving tribute to asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants.Recorded before the last congressional elections.

Photo Credit: Adi Talwar, Citylimits.org