Help unhoused asylum seekers in Portland, Maine

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” - Arthur Ashe

All donated funds (minus GoFundMe charges) will be given to the Maine Africans Asylum Resource Center.

From Portland City Councilor Anna Trevorrow:

On a rainy night this past Tuesday, four asylum seekers attended a listening session hosted by the City Council. They spoke at the podium through an interpreter, saying they were sleeping outside. They had not eaten all day and had no plans for where they would stay the night. The one who I later came to know as Herve had a bullet wound in his shoulder and stated that the cold weather aggravated his arm. They had not expected to be homeless for the first time in their lives upon arrival in America, where they had come in hopes of prosperity. 

Fellow-Councilor Pelletier and I took them out for a meal, made arrangements to put them up in a hotel for the night, and we have been fundraising to support their immediate needs ever since. The interpreter, Serge, has assumed the role of caseworker to help them seek longer-term temporary shelter, but it is hard to come by and until we find it your continued support is needed to serve these four New Mainers’ basic needs.

Solving the systems that place people in crisis is a nebulous, long-term journey; but solving each crisis moment-to-moment is possible when we act as a community. I ask you to join in the compassion and humanity that has guided us thus far, and donate to support continued emergency sheltering for these New Mainers. Your donation means the world to them.