A crowd of around 60 people gathered at Austin City Hall on Thursday, purchase March 24, to show support for Guatemalan immigrant, Hilda Ramirez, and her young son, Ivan. As was recently reported by NPR, Hilda and her son are Guatemalan immigrants who fall under the purview of the recent deportation raids undertaken by the [...]
We're excited to announce that Casa's Executive Director, Jennifer Long, will be on a panel about Immigration at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary's third annual Hesed Lectures on April 2nd, 2016. What are this year's Hesed Lectures about? "The purpose of the HESED lectureship is to promote awareness and church involvement in the area of social justice, thus enabling [...]
Casa Marianella’s fundamental mission is to offer hospitality to refugees fleeing violence and war. During the organization’s 30-year history, ambulance it has seen the population it serves change dramatically, but its vision has remained the same. Indeed, despite historical changes (and perhaps sadly), the need for Casa Marianella is just as great today as it [...]
An Excerpt from a Night in February by Erin Edmonds Context: At Casa Marianella’s Adult Shelter, we operate on a 24-hour clock. Staff is asked to pull a night shift once a week. As of late, we’ve been operating on overflow. Maximum capacity: 38. Housing Reality: 52. 52 residents. We’ve managed to wedge 14 extra [...]
Ever since I arrived, Sofia has been volunteering mornings throughout the week. She did our laundry and cooked, but she also did much more. She took care of our residents who needed the most care, and she did so with a joking, motherly demeanor that charmed all of us. And I think all Casa staff [...]
photo credit: Erin Birney When Teo arrived at Casa Marianella two years ago, unhealthy his untreated diabetes had advanced so far that he was, see as one observer puts it, “more dead than alive.” Indeed, Teo has lost half of his leg, the functioning of his kidneys, and part of his vision to the disease. [...]