Photo Credit: "US migrants' faces" by Gerson Galang

At the beginning of summer, KFLA sent out a “Humanitarian Call to Action,” addressing the issue of unaccompanied children at our southern border. Many of you responded and participated in an educational webinar discussing the issue. From that conversation, the KFLA Humanitarian Action Fund was created to support Fellows working on this issue. We received a $5,000 anonymous gift from a Kellogg Fellow challenging the rest of the network to match the gift. These matching dollars are still being raised to go towards the Fund.

Thank you to the Fellows who have already shown their support and made a donation! We invite the rest of the network to help KFLA and our Humanitarian Action Fund.

Grants from this Fund will be awarded to Fellows in the US and Central America. The Fellows who apply must be working on humanitarian responses to Immigration at the grassroots level. If you are interested in donating or applying for these funds, please contact bmartinez@kfla.org.

Many of our Fellows are on the ground working on humanitarian approaches to immigration in their communities.

Check out what these two Fellows are doing:

Jose “Tony” Bracamonte (KNFP-12), a retired educator, has been coordinating a series of forums held in the Tempe/Phoenix area.

His goal is to educate the local community on the issue of unaccompanied children at the border. The first forum was held in October at Temple Emanuel in Tempe, AZ. The presenters addressed the following questions: 1) As a nation of immigrants, what is our moral and ethical responsibility toward these children? 2) What is causing the surge and how have US trade policies impacted the economy and the culture of violence in their countries? 3) What can people of faith do to secure a moral response to this crisis? The next forum will be held in January 2015.

Mary Beth Bingman (KILP-02) is a volunteer with the Appalachian Peace Education Center.

With this organization, she is working on their local marketing campaign to raise awareness on the conditions in Central America. They provide opportunities for the community to have discussion groups and hear from speakers about the issue which also leads into the immigration crisis. She is helping to encourage others to donate to any of the multiple groups working towards relief efforts on the border.