Help Immigrant Neighbors

Hi everybody, I'm Linda and I am the community advocate at Rivas and Associates. And we get a lot of calls from people in the community asking how they can help immigrant neighbors and their immigrant friends. And so I wanted to come on in English and just put some ideas out there on things that you might be able to do, safe ways, practical ways for you to help. To begin with, you can always help with errands. This doesn't involve transporting people, but you can help people get groceries online, you can make a arrangements to pick up things from the pharmacy. There's a lot of things that you can do just logistically in terms of getting items to people who need them in a safe way. Something else that I wanted to mention that I think is really important is that you can provide support for children, school support. You can host kids at your house after school. You can create like a small, like, study night, start a homework club. And that is something safe and local that you can do, coordinate, you know, walks from school for children who are walking alone. But I think that the idea of help with homework goes a long way. If you speak English and the kids need a little extra support, especially if one family member has been deported. Something else we've been thinking about that could be helpful is starting a meal train, get people to coordinate foods, especially immediately following a deportation. People always need, you know, healthy food and accessible food. Help people prepare an emergency plan. Help them get like an emergency folder together with some key documents and contacts of who to call in case of an emergency. Having a plan in place helps to reduce fear, and so that's always a good idea. And remember that here at Rivas, we offer power of attorney letters that are free of charge, so you can get a power of attorney for standby guardianship or for travel authorization or even for property, like what to do with property if an individual is deported. All these little things matter. They provide emotional support, logistical support. Just know that we're here if you need to reach out. If you are somebody who wants to offer help, or if you want to help and you need to get connected, you can always give us a call. Help to support immigrant-owned businesses. Give them a good, you know, Google review. That helps to kind of boost their products or their business, and that creates strong communities. So there's a lot that we can do. I just wanted to also mention a wonderful organization, Oklahomans for Immigrants, on Instagram. You can follow them, and that's also a wonderful resource as well. Thanks for listening.