Central Minnesota nonprofit delivers food, supplies to families in fear of ICE
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At the office of Fe y Justicia, a small nonprofit in Waite Park near St. Cloud, floors and tabletops are covered with boxes and bags of groceries, diapers, household cleaning supplies and other necessities.
Fe y Justicia, which is Spanish for “Faith and Justice,” is a faith-based organization that serves the Latino and immigrant community in central Minnesota.
For the past couple of weeks, it’s been organizing an effort to collect donations and deliver groceries and other supplies to families who are afraid to leave home due to the surge of immigration enforcement across Minnesota.
Executive director Ma Elena Gutierrez said the volunteer effort started a little over a week ago, when it became clear that some residents were becoming fearful of venturing out in public.
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"People are so afraid of what is going on — how these agents knock on the door very loud,” Gutierrez said. “And they are really afraid of separation of the family.”
Gutierrez said community members donate money, and volunteers buy food and other supplies — everything from eggs and milk to toilet paper and shampoo.
For the Latino community that likes to cook their own food, there are plenty of vegetables and other fresh items, she said.
About 60 to 70 volunteers are helping with the effort, including taking phone calls, buying and sorting items and making deliveries.
"It's probably like a lot of people are feeling: What's happening right now is beyond the scope of what I think is both morally and legally OK,” said Eric Chien of Little Falls, who’s been helping several days a week.
Chien said he thinks it’s important to support families who are important to the fabric of communities such as Little Falls and St. Cloud. He said when volunteers make deliveries, they often encounter families living in fear.
"Drivers are showing up to dark houses, shades pulled, fear when there's a knock on the door,” Chien said. “When drivers show up, ‘Thank goodness it's you. I was worried it was someone else.’”
Organizers at Fe y Justicia said they plan to continue collecting supplies and making deliveries as long as they're needed. Gutierrez said the support from the community has been encouraging.
"We asked for help to the community, and the community has been responding to the emergency that we are living right now — the crisis that we are living,” she said.
