Safe service project(s): Holiday cards for LGBTQ detainees AND GayLDSCrossroads Sock challenge!
lirs.org/hope
by Marci McPhee
Looking for a COVID-safe service project for yourself, your family, or your group? Send holiday cards to detainees through the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)’ Sixth Annual Hope for the Holidays Campaign. Cards go to migrant detention centers across the country and at shelters along the border, reminding people that they are not forgotten.
LGBTQ folks are often fleeing life-threatening discrimination in their home countries, and their plight is hardly better in the border towns while they wait for asylum hearings.
Folks can do cards individually at home (cardmaking party after Thanksgiving dinner?) or together as an activity (with masks and social distance, of course). Cards must be RECEIVED by Friday Dec 11 for distribution in detention centers by Christmas.
Details on LIRS.org/hope or on JustServe.org (requires login): https://www.justserve.org/projects/518d12c4-8d2d-406f-92f4-3f2e734c65cf Here are relevant excerpts:
No envelopes, only cards. Cards can be handmade or store bought, with religious messages, "happy holiday" messages, or general messages of hope. Stickers are ok, but not stick-on jewels (choking hazard) or large amounts of glitter.
The cards can be in any language, bundled separately. Families in detention speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, Haitian Creole, you name it. (This might be a good project for foreign language learners.) The toolkit contains sample Spanish phrases (optional).
Cards can be unsigned or signed with first name and city, nothing else - no last name, no address.
Send to the address on the cover sheet, attached on the JustServe listing and also page 5 in the LIRS toolkit. That address is First Evangelical Lutheran Church, ATTN: Hope for the Holidays, 3807 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21218 - but they appreciate the cover sheet to keep count of the cards (last year they collected and distributed nearly 16,000 cards).
Cards must be RECEIVED before December 11, which means mailing earlier.
And remember the #CrossroadsSockChallenge as another way to help: you donate to your favorite LGBTQ organization, Evan and Marci contribute socks to LGBTQ youth at a homeless shelter! Now through Tues. Dec 1 (#GivingTuesday AND the launch of #LighttheWorld “Come and Help” service calendar).