Stories of Change

CWS Emergency Response Specialist Susanne Gilmore (back row, left) with staff from Living Hope Wheelchair Association in Houston.

Relief in the Face of a “Tsunami of Need”

Imagine being an undocumented worker in Texas. One day, a nightmare happens: you’re injured at work, and you end up relying on a wheelchair. Your body was your tool. It’s what made you a good worker in that sector, and it’s how you provided for your family. In just a few seconds, your ability to use that tool changes dramatically.

Now, it seems like no one wants to hire you. Because you’re undocumented, you don’t quality for unemployment or other benefits. It feels like no one wants to help you. Bills are piling up, and you start facing tough decisions about whether to pay your rent or buy food.

This is a dark story. It’s one of isolation, loneliness and despair. But it can also be a story of hope–one of neighbors standing together in the face of adversity.

And it’s one that the team at Living Hope Wheelchair Association in Houston knows very well.

Living Hope works with undocumented people with disabilities and their families. Much of their work focuses on helping people access durable medical equipment, essential supplies and medical care. Their team distributes adult diapers and catheters, and they help members access paratransit or other transportation to get to dialysis or other appointments. In addition to these material needs, Living Hope advocates for fairer, more equitable policies in healthcare and transportation. They also reach out to help break the isolation that many of their members face. They do regular calls to check in about their needs, including emotional and spiritual ones. Since Living Hope leaders themselves have faced the isolation and abandonment from society, they know that this accompaniment is a crucial part of their work. They leave no one behind.

Most of Living Hope’s clients are undocumented. Without a safety net, these families are especially vulnerable when something unexpected happens.

We first got to know Living Hope after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in 2017. As you can imagine, disasters are even tougher to navigate for people with disabilities. With Harvey’s widespread flooding, some of Living Hope’s members were physically stuck in their damaged homes. CWS provided funds to help them build wheelchair ramps.

From there, a partnership was born. Tomás Aguilar, the Disaster Recovery Coordinator at Living Hope, has worked closely with CWS for the last three years. “CWS has amazing work happening, and amazing support. I take advantage of that,” he says. “By the time COVID-19 hit, we knew how to shift gears and do more with less. The discussions, emails and materials that CWS shares really made an impact on our ability to provide the same level of service.”

Still, the team at Living Hope has paid a price. Leaders within the organization contracted COVID-19. The team has been working above and beyond their usual hours and job descriptions. “We are proud we are serving our community and we will be even prouder when we can do it in a way that doesn’t overwhelm us,” Tomás says. “There will come a day, thanks to our planning and improvement in capacity, where we will not only keep our mission going no matter what but we will do it without overworking ourselves!”

It was after one of the CWS-convened group discussions with partners that the CWS team reached out to Tomás this spring. We asked what new needs Tomás was seeing in his community and how we could help.

Sadly, Tomás had a lot to share. Because of their immigration status, Living Hope’s members weren’t eligible for stimulus payments or the expanded unemployment benefits. In this political culture, people are afraid. They aren’t sure how to get through losing family members to COVID-19, losing jobs and facing mounting bills. Even the informal economy has dried up. The pandemic shut down paratransit services for a while; when they started up again, people were scared to leave home. “If families were hurting before, it has gotten worse,” Tomás says. Families are rationing insulin, medicine and food. Tomás called it a “tsunami of need.”

CWS issued a $15,000 grant to help. It’s part of a fund that Living Hope is using to provide cash help to at least 200 families. Each family has their own list of needs, and they know what is most urgent for them. It may be rent or a utility bill that is overdue. It might be food for families on the brink of starvation. And in some heartbreaking cases, it’s funeral expenses for a loved one who has died of COVID-19. Living Hope talks to each family, and those with extraordinary needs may receive a little extra help. The team’s goal is to eventually be able to provide at least $500 to each family to help during these dark times.

Every single one of us has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. But for our neighbors who have no support to fall back on, it has been catastrophic. Our team is proud to support Living Hope as they provide relief and hope to hundreds of people who are facing some of their darkest days. Because when it really comes down to it, that’s what neighbors do.

Stories of Change

CWS Hygiene Kits

That Feeling When Neighbors Come Together

“We are located in an area that is very young and wealthy, but the wealth can mask poverty. There are a lot of working poor families that come to get food. I have had people say to me that they can now pay the bills since they received food here,” says Pastor Sharon Schulze, co-founder of Parktown Food Hub in Durham, North Carolina.

Parktown is only five years old, but they have already expanded and pivoted a couple of times to meet the growing needs in their community. Ultimately, their mission is to be a spot where food and friendships can be shared. They distribute food, but they also foster community and conversation. For example, Parktown’s Story Circles are times for groups of five people (socially distanced and masked, of course!) to gently share about themselves; who they are, where they are from and what they believe. It’s a way of fostering empathy and understanding among people from all walks of life.

The food hub is currently located at Parktown United Methodist Church, which has a huge porch and circle drive. What used to be a shopping-style food pickup inside the church has transformed into a safe, outdoor operation during the pandemic. And it’s a really good thing that the food hub has been able to continue operations during the pandemic, since need is skyrocketing.

“We initially had 600-700 people coming a month before the pandemic, then it hit 2,000 a month so we added an extra distribution day and thankfully, had donations from the community coming in, too.” Pastor Sharon also shares. “We work with community partners like the Lutheran Services, congregations, Second Chance Ministries so any extra we share with them and we are able to reach individuals even more through them.”

Like many other hunger fighting operations, Parktown sees a consistent demand for hygiene supplies. So in the same spirit of community that Parktown fosters, volunteers at the Richmond CROP Hunger Walk assembled 100 CWS Hygiene Kits that went to Parktown. “We put the hygiene kits into boxes with the food so every family got them during our distribution day. The families always ask about hygiene items and that is something we don’t always have so it is really nice to have the hygiene kits! We don’t have a designated storage space so it is really helpful to pass out the premade kits,” Pastor Sharon says.

When we asked her what message she had for people who put together CWS Kits, Pastor Sharon said, “There is a yawning need here, and that little small act really goes to something bigger. One hygiene kit can make a huge difference for a family. Jesus touched each person’s life one by one, and we can do that, too. It really is overwhelming to think about the support. The little acts can mean so much, so thank you!”

To learn more about how you can help support organizations like Parktown Food Hub, please visit cwskits.org.

Stories of Change

Photo courtesy Project Hope Charities.

Hope During Tough Times for a Community in New York

Many families in Jamaica, New York, are struggling to put nutritious food on the table and pay bills. In the early 2000s, attorney Elizabeth Ozo-Onyali started to notice how her neighbors needed help. They needed HOPE. And, in 2005, Project Hope Charities was born. They provide a variety of community programs that fight hunger, help families overcome poverty, empower youth and focus on disaster relief.

“I have always been the type of person to weep when I see the news or someone who needs help. My heart just breaks and I want to do something, you know? I have always been giving to others to try to support and I knew I needed to give back more – my money was not enough. I just needed to do more,” Elizabeth says. “Someone told me that the thing that bothers you the most is your calling, and that is so true. It doesn’t solve every problem – but the little problems can be solved. It’s a project of hope.”

Our first introduction to Elizabeth and Project Hope came in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy struck New York. Project Hope requested CWS Emergency Cleanup Buckets for their community. “The buckets provided cleaning supplies – everything you could think of that provided help cleaning up after for the families. I tell you, those buckets were a blessing. So needed,” Elizabeth shares, “And since then, we have requested supplies from CWS each year, especially for our Back to School Event. We are just so excited and blessed every year.”

The Back to School Event is a time for families to pick up backpacks, books, CWS School Kits and two weeks’ worth of food. A medical professional comes each year to talk to children about proper hygiene. About 200-300 children participate in the Back to School Event each year. Elizabeth says that, “this event really is an entire service for the families – we get kits from CWS and then food from the local food banks, it just doubles up and the whole family is catered to. They are at peace.”

This year, the event is even more critical. The pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the community. “At one point, we had 700 people in line to receive food,” Elizabeth recalls. “It was a challenge, and we had extra work to do since we had to pack the food up in bags, but we are happy to help and it’s a joy to serve.” Our team was happy to help them out with 1,200 CWS School Kits, 900 Hygiene Kits and 370 Blankets.

Elizabeth shares that she is so grateful for CWS donors and supporters, “First of all, thank you for giving. There are so many lives that you don’t know, and their lives have been transformed because of your giving. This life is not for ourselves. It’s about giving to others. We are truly grateful that you are trusting us to do the right thing, and let me tell you, we are doing the right thing.”

To learn more about how you can help support CWS programs that help nonprofits like Project Hope, please visit cwskits.organd cwsblankets.org. Because of you, we can help those in need.

A 4-H victory for two refugee teens in Virginia


September 30, 2020

Six years ago, local farmer Jim Mumaw and his daughters Holly and Katherine started mentoring a group of refugee youth including Robel and Mickey. The Mumaws taught them how to raise sheep and show them at the Rockingham County Fair. When Mickey’s family came to the United States as refugees from northern Ethiopia, they were looking for local places to …

Stories of Change

Jaime Garcia, left, with volunteers Ximena and Carlos and the CWS School Kits that they will distribute. Photo courtesy Centro de Informacion.

During challenging times, a smile for students in Illinois

Centro de Informacion serves the Spanish-speaking residents of Elgin, IL and surrounding communities. Originally founded in 1972 to help the area’s small Spanish-speaking population, they have expanded over the decades as the number of Spanish speakers in the area has also grown.

Many of the organization’s clients are immigrants. “For the last 48 years, Centro has served as the place for immigrants to whom language and culture present barriers to ask questions, obtain bilingual help, and to build skills,” they say. “Bilingual staff provide interpretation help, assistance in filling out forms in English such as consumer protection, medical cards, food stamps, and claims for unemployment benefits among others, advocacy in resolving housing and employment disputes, and help in developing life skills, financial literacy, and parenting skills.” 

This year, the pandemic and its effects have led to extra challenge for many of Centro’s clients. “With the pandemic, many parents have lost their jobs. So that is a definite challenge. Some of our clients are undocumented, so they won’t receive government assistance like a stimulus check. However, we do have funding from grants for this like medical bills, utility bills, food. But when you don’t have a safety net like so many others do, it is very hard.”

Usually, Centro hosts back-to-school resource fairs for families. Among the other support and information they offer, they also hand out CWS School Kits. “The kids look forward to the resource fair every year! We have had families that come from years when they have several children and they love it,” says executive director Jaime Garcia.

We can all remember the thrill of having fresh new school supplies to face a new year. And with your help, more students are getting to experience that thrill through the CWS School Kits that Centro distributes. During the pandemic when so much is uncertain, this joy is extra special. “You are making a lot of children smile and laugh. Sometimes in times like this, the kids need to use an old, ripped backpack and reusing supplies for the school year,” says Jaime. “But just imagine their faces when they see they get a new school kit!”

“Just imagine their faces and know you did that. So, thank you!”

Centro de Informacion is also part of the Elgin CROP Hunger Walk, sponsored by CWS. They help organize the event and receive a grant for their ongoing work to fight hunger in Elgin each year. 

Stories of Change

Leonardo. Photo: Kristin V. Rehder

Meet Leonardo, a Cuban refugee in the United States


I am from Cuba and I lived in Cuba for 30 years. I studied there and got an engineering degree. For my safety, I was given the chance to come to the United States. I received a lot of help from Church World Service. They introduced me to the Lancaster people and showed me how to apply for work. They helped me to improve my English. When I got my permit for work they helped to find me a job quickly. Recently, I applied for my citizenship and they [CWS] helped me with the application. I am an American citizen now!

Refugee people are just people who are trying to be happy– for their family, for their life. They just don’t have the opportunity because they are in countries of war or under corrupt government. People want to be in the United States because this is a great country that has given opportunity for all these years. I hope that this doesn’t change because I am one of these people that came here and am happy now. I have a really good life.

Leonardo is a Cuban refugee who CWS helped resettle in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.