Tagged Casa Alitas

Social action by M’kor Hayim warms hearts at local migrant shelter

Bryan Kaplan displays donations for the Casa Alitas migrant shelter from Congregation M’kor Hayim.

Congregation M’kor Hayim has supported the Casa Alitas shelter for asylum seekers, run by Catholic Community Services. This month, the congregation answered a call for small size coats, jackets, and sweaters for the women and children who pass through the shelter, often on their way to colder locations. With… Read more »

Tucson migrants benefit from generous donations by Wisconsin congregations

(L-R) Shelter coordinators Diego Piña Lopez and Francis Wheeler, Jim Rich, Jill Rich, and volunteer driver Seth Ruskin unload coats and goods donated by Milwaukee’s Congregation Shalom at the Casa Alitas migrant shelter in Tucson. (Photo: Debe Campbell/AJP)

A sermon at Congregation Shalom in Milwaukee translated into generosity from that community to Tucson. It all began when Rabbi Ronald Shapiro joined a group of rabbis visiting a migrant detention center in San Diego in the spring. Returning to Milwaukee to share what he witnessed, he relayed how… Read more »

Interfaith agency presents token of appreciation

Photo Debe Campbell/AJP

Jill Rich, social action chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, presented Federation CEO & President Stuart Mellan with a token of appreciation from Catholic Community Services Casa Alitas program on Sept. 13. JFSA has supported Casa Alitas over the past six… Read more »

Nurse finds Jewish values at core of service to migrants

Nancy Rudner, left, with fellow volunteer Dr. Linn Larson, in the sanctuary of Tucson’s former Benedictine monastery, where medical intake takes place when migrants arrive from detention. (Courtesy Nancy Rudner)

Nancy Rudner volunteered at Tucson’s old Benedictine monastery in March, rendering medical aid to asylum-seeking migrants from Central America. It was her first stint at Casa Alitas, the shelter operated by Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, and as a volunteer with RNRN, the Registered Nurse Response Network, a… Read more »

JFSA raises $70,000+ for Central American migrants, but cash, goods still needed

Jim and Jill Rich display one of 1,000 backpacks purchased with donated funds. (Photo: Debe Campbell/AJP)

Thanks to community generosity between May 3-June 6, $47,000 has been donated to the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Migrant Relief Services Emergency Fund for Central American asylum seekers transiting Tucson. Combined with an initial anonymous $25,000 matching grant donation, that’s $72,000 to assist with emergency expenses. Expenditures are… Read more »

At Tucson’s old Benedictine monastery, Jewish health practitioners aid migrants

(L-R): Medical volunteers Audrey Russell-Kibble, D.N.P., F.N.P.C., F.A.A.N.P.; Richard Wahl, M.D.; and Kenneth Iserson, M.D., on Feb. 24, in the Benedictine monastery chapel in Tucson that serves as a dormitory for asylum-seekers. (Debe Campbell/AJP)

Disembarking without fanfare and frequently no forewarning, asylum-seekers file, dozens at a time, into the old Benedictine monastery in midtown Tucson.  Since Jan. 26, the monastery has been a makeshift “hospitality center” providing a safe place for families released from custody after applying for asylum at the Mexican border.… Read more »

In focus 12.15.17

Intergenerational Thanksgiving lunch On Tuesday, Nov.  21, Temple Emanu-El’s Olga and Bob Strauss Early Childhood Center celebrated with residents from Handmaker at the Temple’s second annual intergenerational Thanksgiving Lunch. The ECE’s children presented a short program of Thanksgiving blessings and songs on the themes of friendship, community and gratitude.… Read more »