Recently I went to the US border in Texas to see for myself what was going on. I discovered a few things that confirm what I thought I would find but there was so much that I wasn't able to experience. What I can confirm is this: there are lots of people who have traveled a long way, hoping to find relief from a hardship at home. Home for those I encountered is Central America.
In Eagle Pass, Texas I visited with my friend, Becky Ballou. Becky is the director of Mission:Border Hope and has been working on the border in Eagle Pass for about eight years. Because of the increased pressure on the system, the crossing at Piedras Negras, Mexico/Eagle Pass has had a dramatic increase in traffic. On the day I worked at the Mission:Border Hope resource center in Eagle Pass about 100 asylum seekers came through. They were attended to by staff and volunteers at the center. The sojourners had been processed through the Customs and Border Patrol System and delivered by CBP to the Mission:Border Hope facility. At the center these sojourners were given a meal and supplies for the next part of their journey. If they needed, they were given an opportunity to use a phone. They are also given information that will help them understand transportation options from Eagle Pass to their next destination. Most of them will travel to San Antonio about 145 miles away. In San Antonio, many will be met and assisted by other caring people through organizations such as Interfaith Welcome Coalition.
I went to Eagle Pass in part to see the situation first hand but also to speak with Becky about a plan for engagement for those of us who live far away from the situation but are grieved and looking for a way to express our desire to help.
Here is the plan Becky and I agreed on:
"What the world needs now is love sweet love, It's the only thing that there's just too little of "
From the song, What the world needs now is Love
Lyrics by Hal David - Music by Burt Bacharach
Living in Missouri, far from the US/Mexico border, it can be easy to project the crisis on the border as someone else's problem. It can be easy to shake my head and wonder why the government doesn't do something. It can be easy to allow it to be simply a tragic news story or a tragic photo. But as the crisis continues and continues to grow, it is harder to ignore. For many of us, it is hard to simply read the stories or see the photos. As the tragedy intensifies my first impulse is anger. It makes me angry that we would treat people in such a way. But recently I remembered a song from my childhood that I hope would inform a better response: "What the world needs now is love, sweet love." I am confident many of you also believe this to be true.
As it happens, I have partnered for the past several years with friends working on the border who deal with this issue every day. Becky and Bruce Ballou have invested their lives in the border community of Eagle Pass, Texas and attend to the physical and spiritual needs of anyone who comes to their door. Becky is the executive director of the non profit Mission: Border Hope and has earned the respect of the community on both sides of the border. Most recently, they have been experiencing the flood of sojourners crossing the border. Mission: Border Hope is providing supplies, lodging, food, and prayers to any who have asked. Now, right now, I want to help my friends as they help the sojourners. I hope you will help also.
Here is the idea: We want to collect and deliver supplies and money to Eagle Pass but I want us to do it in a unique way so that many hearts, many hands, many trucks, and many drivers are involved. We would like you to participate in a relay of kindness.
Starting in Gladstone, Missouri, at my church, Englewood Baptist Church just north of Kansas City, we will collect and load specific supplies requested from Mission: Border Hope, in the back of a truck or van. From there we will drive to the next stop of the relay, Columbia, Missouri. In Columbia there will be a different driver and truck loaded with supplies collected in Columbia and waiting to receive the boxes from Kansas City. This process will be repeated at each relay location. In relay stops of about 100 miles (some more, some less), volunteer drivers accompanied by me and perhaps some friends, will carry the supplies from one location to the next. As the relay continues, we will be collecting more and more and at each stop participants will carry these gifts from one volunteer vehicle to another, a tangible way to ease the burden of those too far away to touch, help, or serve. This will be a physical form of prayer for those of us who don’t have words to pray.
There are certainly more efficient ways to accomplish the delivery of supplies and money to our friends in Eagle Pass. But efficiency is not necessarily the goal. For this event we will be placing a higher value on relationship and participation. We will be placing a higher value on sharing the burden, sharing the cost.
The opportunity for engaging in the important work of compassion, putting our shoulders to the wheel and together physically participating in creating light in this dark season is worthy of us; worthy of our time, worthy of our effort to touch the items which will ease the burden of another, worthy of the miles we will put on our trucks and on our bodies. These will be a small offering of self and resource. And when added together the items of relief and the miles of contribution will in a way, small or large, remove a portion of burden for the sojourners and a portion of the weight from our hearts. When we have finished this task, we will certainly see that there is more to do. But perhaps we will learn together that how we can express our better selves, our best selves. Perhaps we will, in the work, see a glimpse of a better world; a world where feeling helpless is replaced by finding a way to help and "there is nothing I can do" is replaced by "I will do something because what the world needs now is love, sweet love"
Our proposed route: Gladstone, Columbia, St. Louis, Cape Girardeau, Wappapello, Springfield, Joplin, Oklahoma City, Ft. Worth, Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Eagle Pass.
In case you are curious, the distance from Guatemala City to Eagle Pass: 1564 miles. The distance of our curious route: 1542 miles.
In Eagle Pass, Texas I visited with my friend, Becky Ballou. Becky is the director of Mission:Border Hope and has been working on the border in Eagle Pass for about eight years. Because of the increased pressure on the system, the crossing at Piedras Negras, Mexico/Eagle Pass has had a dramatic increase in traffic. On the day I worked at the Mission:Border Hope resource center in Eagle Pass about 100 asylum seekers came through. They were attended to by staff and volunteers at the center. The sojourners had been processed through the Customs and Border Patrol System and delivered by CBP to the Mission:Border Hope facility. At the center these sojourners were given a meal and supplies for the next part of their journey. If they needed, they were given an opportunity to use a phone. They are also given information that will help them understand transportation options from Eagle Pass to their next destination. Most of them will travel to San Antonio about 145 miles away. In San Antonio, many will be met and assisted by other caring people through organizations such as Interfaith Welcome Coalition.
I went to Eagle Pass in part to see the situation first hand but also to speak with Becky about a plan for engagement for those of us who live far away from the situation but are grieved and looking for a way to express our desire to help.
Here is the plan Becky and I agreed on:
"What the world needs now is love sweet love, It's the only thing that there's just too little of "
From the song, What the world needs now is Love
Lyrics by Hal David - Music by Burt Bacharach
Living in Missouri, far from the US/Mexico border, it can be easy to project the crisis on the border as someone else's problem. It can be easy to shake my head and wonder why the government doesn't do something. It can be easy to allow it to be simply a tragic news story or a tragic photo. But as the crisis continues and continues to grow, it is harder to ignore. For many of us, it is hard to simply read the stories or see the photos. As the tragedy intensifies my first impulse is anger. It makes me angry that we would treat people in such a way. But recently I remembered a song from my childhood that I hope would inform a better response: "What the world needs now is love, sweet love." I am confident many of you also believe this to be true.
As it happens, I have partnered for the past several years with friends working on the border who deal with this issue every day. Becky and Bruce Ballou have invested their lives in the border community of Eagle Pass, Texas and attend to the physical and spiritual needs of anyone who comes to their door. Becky is the executive director of the non profit Mission: Border Hope and has earned the respect of the community on both sides of the border. Most recently, they have been experiencing the flood of sojourners crossing the border. Mission: Border Hope is providing supplies, lodging, food, and prayers to any who have asked. Now, right now, I want to help my friends as they help the sojourners. I hope you will help also.
Here is the idea: We want to collect and deliver supplies and money to Eagle Pass but I want us to do it in a unique way so that many hearts, many hands, many trucks, and many drivers are involved. We would like you to participate in a relay of kindness.
Starting in Gladstone, Missouri, at my church, Englewood Baptist Church just north of Kansas City, we will collect and load specific supplies requested from Mission: Border Hope, in the back of a truck or van. From there we will drive to the next stop of the relay, Columbia, Missouri. In Columbia there will be a different driver and truck loaded with supplies collected in Columbia and waiting to receive the boxes from Kansas City. This process will be repeated at each relay location. In relay stops of about 100 miles (some more, some less), volunteer drivers accompanied by me and perhaps some friends, will carry the supplies from one location to the next. As the relay continues, we will be collecting more and more and at each stop participants will carry these gifts from one volunteer vehicle to another, a tangible way to ease the burden of those too far away to touch, help, or serve. This will be a physical form of prayer for those of us who don’t have words to pray.
There are certainly more efficient ways to accomplish the delivery of supplies and money to our friends in Eagle Pass. But efficiency is not necessarily the goal. For this event we will be placing a higher value on relationship and participation. We will be placing a higher value on sharing the burden, sharing the cost.
The opportunity for engaging in the important work of compassion, putting our shoulders to the wheel and together physically participating in creating light in this dark season is worthy of us; worthy of our time, worthy of our effort to touch the items which will ease the burden of another, worthy of the miles we will put on our trucks and on our bodies. These will be a small offering of self and resource. And when added together the items of relief and the miles of contribution will in a way, small or large, remove a portion of burden for the sojourners and a portion of the weight from our hearts. When we have finished this task, we will certainly see that there is more to do. But perhaps we will learn together that how we can express our better selves, our best selves. Perhaps we will, in the work, see a glimpse of a better world; a world where feeling helpless is replaced by finding a way to help and "there is nothing I can do" is replaced by "I will do something because what the world needs now is love, sweet love"
Our proposed route: Gladstone, Columbia, St. Louis, Cape Girardeau, Wappapello, Springfield, Joplin, Oklahoma City, Ft. Worth, Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Eagle Pass.
In case you are curious, the distance from Guatemala City to Eagle Pass: 1564 miles. The distance of our curious route: 1542 miles.
Wow. Good luck to all of you! You're an amazing group of people and I hope I can contribute in some way here in Maine.
ReplyDeleteClever idea! Sounds like a needed ministry delivered in a creative way.
ReplyDeleteOur church would love to help here in St. Louis. We can make up hygiene bags and have them ready if you tell us where and when you will be in St. Louis.
ReplyDelete