The Video & Reviews Are In!

Did you watch the panel discussion about “What’s Really Happening at Our Southern Border?” The reviews are in, and they’re fantastic! Here’s what viewers had to say about the event:

I really enjoyed yesterday’s panel discussion. I learned several new things and I’m glad for that. Thank you.

Great job tonight! Thank you for bringing these people together, I learned a lot.

I was so thankful I was able to hear each of the speakers and their passion for the immigrants. … It’s too bad that what we see on media is often not the real story. 

Thanks for your dedication!

So helpful, thanks.

Thank you so much!

It’s very important to bring awareness to this issue. Thank you Alvaro!

Thank you all.

Thank you for all your work!

Once again, so terrific last night.  Alvaro was stunning.  

 I learned a lot last evening.

EXCELLENT JOB!!!!!  It was awesome and was so well done!

Absolutely great, every one. 

Such true advocacy. 

Great webinar!  Very impactful! 

Thank you for your work.

Thank you! It was great!

Each one was so good and informative.

Great job tonight! It was so interesting to learn about everything from how covid affected the shelters to what it’s like to put up crosses in the desert. Your speakers are such dedicated advocates and practitioners. You put on a wonderful event and should be proud.

Thank you for putting together an excellent webinar.  The panelists are all such dedicated and caring people. Everyone should see the human face of the immigrants and the people who help them—we would soon have a humane immigration policy.

ICYMI, don’t despair: we recorded the event! You can watch it on demand here: https://www.facebook.com/236383033519515/videos/490954278780057. If you need a non-Facebook link, click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xQxkfXBHZ6r4mH-yAdPYnde6MsZMISP9/view

Please feel free to share this video far and wide. When asked what they need most, panelists responded that they need increased awareness—everyone should know what’s really happening on our southern border.

My heartfelt gratitude to each of the panelists: Joe Barron of Holding Institute, Diego Piña Lopez of Casa Alitas, Artist Alvaro Enciso, and Dora Rodriguez of Salvavision. Thanks also to Jerima King and Kim Pettit for the simultaneous interpretation to Spanish, and to Hannah Martin for the tech support.

If you learn(ed) anything from this event or are inspired at all, please generously support immigrants through the important work of our panelists at the border. See the graphic below.

Panel Discussion Today!

Today’s the Day! Join us at 5pm Mountain Time to hear from experts who live and work on the border to learn about “What’s Really Happening at Our Southern Border?” Ofreceremos interpretación simultánea al español. The discussion will be recorded.

Click here to register for the Zoom event: https://bit.ly/3iA2ZPG

We will also be on Facebook Live: https://bit.ly/35jOCqV

Our panelists are generously donating their time and expertise to make this event free for you. If you learn anything new or are inspired at all, please give generously to support immigrants through our panelists’ important work at the border.

See you at 5pm Mountain time!

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Meet the Crew!

Have you registered yet for the panel discussion Sunday, June 13?

Register at the link below for the Zoom event; registration guarantees your place at the presentation and will also score you reminders to log in: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oCbztYqfRXa_QkEVeAb1IA. We’ll also be broadcasting on Facebook Live—check out our Facebook Event Page here for updates: https://fb.me/e/1XqP78lub. We will include time in the panel discussion for Q&A, but also feel free to send me your questions ahead of time. See you Sunday at 5pm MT!

I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know a little about our panelists before you meet them online Sunday. The Associated Press just ran a story about immigration activists in southern Arizona, featuring two of our panelists! Read it here: https://bit.ly/3cvAOxm. Now that you’ve met the cast, let’s meet the crew. Today I introduce you to the people who are (mostly) behind the scenes, making this panel discussion happen. Each of these friends has generously donated their time and expertise to bring you this event.

Meet the Interpreters!

Se proporcionará interpretación simultánea. We will provide simultaneous interpretation to Spanish!

Kim Pettit is a freelance writer, editor, and translator with experience in curriculum and publisher development. She obtained her B.A. in economics and Spanish literature from Drew University and her M.A. in Communication from the University of Colorado. Raised in Latin America, she is fluent in English and Spanish and appreciates learning about other cultures.

Jerima King is a native Spanish speaker from Panama. She has been an interpreter, translator, and teacher for over 20 years after a 20 year career as a software engineer. She has worked with recently arrived immigrants at the border in Laredo and is a member of a Colorado Springs coalition that assists immigrants. Jerima also supports multiple efforts to witness what is going on at the border and is a dispatcher with the Colorado Rapid Response Network to report ICE activities against immigrants.

Meet the Tech Wizard!

There’s more to broadcasting a Zoom webinar than you might imagine, and somebody has to run all the technology. Hannah Martin is an elementary teacher and coordinates the Accompaniment side of the Accompaniment and Sanctuary Coalition COS. Her Mennonite faith and growing knowledge of the US immigration system motivated her to love thy neighbor in all forms. She has two children whom she hopes will grow up in a world where justice and equity exist across borders.

Meet the Moderator: Vicki Witte (me!)

I’ve been volunteering with refugees and other immigrants since 2009. I’ve taught ESL, mentored a dozen refugee and asylum-seeking families, volunteered in a legal services office, and lead a refugee women’s sewing group. I’ve participated in two border learning tours and volunteered at the border numerous times. I’ve personally worked alongside each of our expert panelists, and am grateful for all I’ve learned from them.

I hold a certificate in basic immigration law, a certificate in teaching English as a foreign language, a Master’s in Education, and a B.A. in English. I’m a founding member of the Accompaniment and Sanctuary Coalition Colorado Springs, where I lead the education and action teams. I speak and teach about immigration to church and other interested groups. And of course, I’m the author of stand4welcome, where I blog about my experiences with and reflections about immigrants and immigration. Thank you for reading!

Remember, if you learn anything new or are inspired by any of the speakers, please give generously to support their important work at the border:

Holding Institute Community Center: https://amzn.to/2M6QHQA

Casa Alitas: https://www.casaalitas.org

Colibrí Center for Human Rights: https://colibricenter.org

Salvavision Rescue Arizona: https://www.salvavision.org

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Meet the Panelists: Dora Rodriguez, Salvavision Rescue Arizona

Today I continue my series introducing you to our panelists who live and work at the southern border, in preparation for our panel discussion on Sunday, June 13: “What’s Really Happening at our Southern Border?” Today’s featured panelist is Dora Rodriguez of Salvavision Rescue Arizona.

Dora Rodriguez is an immigrant rights advocate and a survivor of the 1980 tragedy near Ajo, AZ. Dora was part of a group of Salvadorans who fled a civil war in their home country of El Salvador. Thirteen people in her group died in the Arizona desert, including three minors. This led to Dora being one of the first people that the Sanctuary Movement in Tucson, AZ assisted.

Dora currently resides in Tucson, AZ with her husband and is a mother of five children and three grandchildren. Today she is the Director of the non-profit Salvavision Rescue Arizona, an organization that provides aid and support to asylum seekers and detainees in Arizona and border towns, as well as to returnees in El Salvador. 

To learn more about Dora and her work, read my post https://stand4welcome.wordpress.com/2021/04/30/house-of-hope/

The panel discussion is free and open to the public, but we do encourage you to give generously to the agencies our panelists represent, to support their important work on the border. Donate to Salvavision here: https://www.salvavision.org

Register for the panel discussion at the link below; registration guarantees your place at the presentation and will also score you reminders to log in: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oCbztYqfRXa_QkEVeAb1IA

We’ll also be broadcasting on Facebook Live. Check out our Facebook Event Page here for updates: https://fb.me/e/1XqP78lub

Simultaneous Spanish interpretation will be available, and the event will be recorded. We’ll include time for Q&A, but also feel free to send me your questions ahead of time. You’re welcome to share this event, and to send me questions from your friends. See you on Sunday at 5pm MT!

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Meet the Panelists: Alvaro Enciso, Artist

Today I continue my series introducing you to our panelists who live and work at the southern border, in preparation for our panel discussion on Sunday, June 13: “What’s Really Happening at our Southern Border?” Today’s featured panelist is artist Álvaro Enciso.

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Salper

Alvaro Enciso was born in Colombia, South America. He moved to the United States in the mid-sixties to pursue a college education, but the  war interfered with his plans. He was drafted into the US Army and served 14 months in Viet Nam. “This education was not part of my original plan,” Enciso remarks.

With financial aid from the GI Bill, and various part-time jobs that included driving a taxicab in New York City at night and mopping floors in a peep show house, he obtained a B.A. in anthropology, and went on to earn graduate degrees in cultural anthropology, Latin American studies, and contemporary Latin American literature.

In the late seventies Enciso was hired by the federal government as an analyst and expert in hispanic culture, and worked in the Washington-Baltimore area implementing national public relations programs that would reach out to diverse Latin American populations settling in the United States.

In the late nineties he moved to New Mexico to reinvent himself as an artist. Enciso thought that since the word “artist” can be loosely used, he could pose as one. He has been making art without the proper credentials ever since.

In 2011 he moved to Tucson, Arizona, and he started volunteering with the Tucson Samaritans leaving water in remote parts of the Sonoran desert, to prevent migrant deaths from hyperthermia. Enciso’s current art reflects the tragedy and broken dreams that he sees weekly while hiking migrant trails.

In 2013 he began working on “Donde mueren los sueños,” a project that marks with “secular” crosses the locations where the bodies and skeletal remains of migrants have been  recovered.  He has planted close to 1,000 crosses thus bringing attention to the more than 3,000 people that have died in southern Arizona while crossing the desert to find somewhere in the US, a piece of the American dream.

Enciso’s work is in private collections throughout the US, as well as in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. He has exhibited widely, and his art has been featured in documentaries, newspaper and magazine articles, radio, etc. He is constantly speaking to groups and universities about his work, and has taught art workshops. His most recent exhibit took place in October of 2019 at the Universidad Iberoamericana, in Leon, Guanajuato.

To learn more about Álvaro and his work, read my post https://stand4welcome.wordpress.com/2021/04/27/where-dreams-die/

The panel discussion is free and open to the public, but we do encourage you to give generously to the agencies our panelists represent, to support their important work on the border. Support Colibrí Center for Human Rights here: https://colibricenter.org

Register for the panel discussion at the link below; registration guarantees your place at the presentation and will also score you reminders to log in: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oCbztYqfRXa_QkEVeAb1IA

We’ll also be broadcasting on Facebook Live. Check out our Facebook Event Page here for updates: https://fb.me/e/1XqP78lub

Simultaneous Spanish interpretation will be available, and the event will be recorded. We’ll include time for Q&A, but also feel free to send me your questions ahead of time. You’re welcome to share this event, and to send me questions from your friends. Stay tuned for more panelist profiles, and we’ll see you on Sunday at 5pm MT!

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Meet the Panelists: Diego Piña Lopez, Casa Alitas

Today I continue my series introducing you to our panelists who live and work at the southern border, in preparation for our panel discussion on Sunday, June 13: “What’s Really Happening at our Southern Border?” Today’s featured panelist is Diego Piña Lopez.

Diego Piña Lopez has been at Casa Alitas Welcome Center, a shelter for asylum seekers in Tucson, AZ for four years. Diego has worked his way up in the program, which has served over 30,000 migrants. He is a second-year Ph.D. student in Public Health, hoping to contribute to recent immigrants’ national health resource network. 

In 2019, Diego received the National Association of Social Workers AZ region Emerging Leader of the Year award, and is currently on the NASW Arizona Board and Co-Chairing for Refugee Council USA on the Asylum task force.

To learn more about Casa Alitas, read my post https://stand4welcome.wordpress.com/2019/11/15/casa-alitas-through-the-eyes-of-a-guest-as-imagined-by-me-vicki/

The panel discussion is free and open to the public, but we do encourage you to give generously to the agencies our panelists represent. To support immigrants through Casa Alitas, please make a donation on their website: https://www.casaalitas.org.

Register for the panel discussion at the link below; registration guarantees your place at the presentation and will also score you reminders to log in: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oCbztYqfRXa_QkEVeAb1IA

We’ll also be broadcasting on Facebook Live. Check out our Facebook Event Page here for updates: https://fb.me/e/1XqP78lub

Simultaneous Spanish interpretation will be available, and the event will be recorded. We’ll include time for Q&A, but also feel free to send me your questions ahead of time. You’re welcome to share this event, and to send me questions from your friends. Stay tuned for more panelist profiles, and we’ll see you on Sunday at 5pm MT!

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Meet the Panelists: Joe Barron, Holding Institute

Have you registered yet for the panel discussion on Sunday, June 13? Join us to learn about “What’s Really Happening at our Southern Border?”

Register at the link below for the Zoom event; registration guarantees your place at the presentation and will also score you reminders to log in: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oCbztYqfRXa_QkEVeAb1IA

I’m eager for you to meet my friends who live and work at the border! Today I introduce you to Joe Barron.

Joe Barron was working as Director of the Catholic Charities Senior Center in Laredo, TX when in 2018 he took on the additional responsibilities of directing an immigrant shelter at the same location. In 2020 Joe moved to Holding Institute Community Center, where he is the Program Director for the immigrant shelter there. Joe brings his experience in logistics and his genuine love and compassion for fellow human beings to his work welcoming immigrants. When he recognized that Laredo would soon be hosting an increased number of immigrants, Joe reached out to coordinate regular conference calls with city leaders and stakeholders, including the police and health departments, the mayor, local NGOs, ICE, and border patrol. 

To read more about Joe’s work welcoming immigrants, read my recent Laredo Update posts, plus my post https://stand4welcome.wordpress.com/2019/05/16/ten-days-at-the-border/

The panel discussion is free and open to the public, but we do encourage you to give generously to the agencies our panelists represent. To support immigrants through the Holding Institute Community Center, please make a purchase from their Amazon wish list here: https://amzn.to/2M6QHQA

We’ll also be broadcasting on Facebook Live. Check out our Facebook Event Page here for updates: https://fb.me/e/1XqP78lub

Simultaneous Spanish interpretation will be available, and the event will be recorded. We’ll include time for Q&A, but also feel free to send me your questions ahead of time. You’re welcome to share this event, and to send me questions from your friends. Stay tuned for more panelist profiles, and I’ll see you Sunday at 5pm MT!

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What’s Really Happening at our Southern Border?

What’s really happening at our southern border?”

If you were to ask me that question, you would not be the first person, nor the last. Do you want to learn from experts who live and work at the border? Please join us Sunday, June 13 at 5:00 pm Mountain Time to learn more, as Accompaniment & Sanctuary Coalition Colorado Springs presents the panel discussion: “What’s Really Happening at our Southern Border?” You don’t need to be in the Mountain time zone to participate; just do the math to tune in at the right time.

Register at the link below for the Zoom event; registration guarantees your place at the presentation and will also score you reminders to log in: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oCbztYqfRXa_QkEVeAb1IA

We’ll also be broadcasting on Facebook Live. Check out our Facebook Event Page here for updates: https://fb.me/e/1XqP78lub

Simultaneous Spanish interpretation will be available, and the event will be recorded. We’ll include time for Q&A, but also feel free to send me your questions ahead of time. You’re welcome to share this event, and to send me questions from your friends.

Featured Panelists:

Joe Barron, Program Director, Holding Institute Immigrant Shelter, Laredo, TX

Diego Piña Lopez, Program Manager, Casa Alitas Immigrant Shelter, Tucson, AZ

Alvaro Enciso, Artist, “Donde Mueren los Sueños, Tucson, AZ

Dora Rodriguez, Executive Director, Salvavision Rescue Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Although the panel event is FREE and open to the public, we do encourage you to support the speakers’ organizations to help them continue their important work at the border. Please give generously!

Holding Institute Community Center: https://amzn.to/2M6QHQA

Casa Alitas: https://www.casaalitas.org

Colibrí Center for Human Rights: https://colibricenter.org

Salvavision Rescue Arizona: https://www.salvavision.org