Dear Eliot family,

In June 2018, this congregation decided to live the part of our missions that calls us “to love courageously.” The members voted to become a Sanctuary Church, only the second congregation in the St. Louis area to do so. The presidential administration of the day had taken a hard line on immigration and was actively pursuing the deportation of untold numbers of people. We wanted to show up for those who would be ripped away from their lives and their people and sent home to possibly very dangerous conditions. Money was raised to transform one of our rooms into a studio apartment, complete with kitchen and bathroom facilities. 

We have lived our commitment to sanctuary in different ways since then. In 2020 we sponsored a transgender asylum seeker who is now building her life in Colorado. In 2022 we welcomed a young woman into the studio apartment, offering a stipend and shelter for several months. This past spring, we adopted a Honduran family who had just been released from detention. 

The Immigration Justice Team has helped the Castro family, consisting of a husband and wife, 3 children under 8 and fourth on the way, to find a home, furnish it, register the kids for school, and connect to health care, community and legal resources. The team has provided advice and guidance for many things. I offered some of the Ministerial Discretionary Fund that you so generously replenish every year to help with the family’s startup costs. For the Castros, we are like their new family. Strong trusting relationships of mutuality have grown between us. 

We have also been helped with guidance from the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee’s Community Accompaniment Program With Asylum-Seekers. CAPAS supports communities of faith as they host and accompany individuals and families seeking safety through the process of obtaining legal asylum in the United States. CAPAS offers matching grants for congregations that are assisting asylum seekers, as we are with the Castro family. We are applying for this grant, but to do so, we have to raise the funds for our part of the deal. If we raise $5000, CAPAS will match it. 

Eliot is blessed with the Dunlapp-Nutt fund generously established by late members of the congregation to help those in need. We have authorized the release of $2500 from this fund provided that you, the members and friends, contribute $2500. This will become our matching fund to receive $5000 from CAPAS. We have entered into an agreement with the Castro family that stipulates exactly what kind of support we can offer and for how long. A budget has been built indicating how the $10,000 can be used. 

Our goal is to raise $2500 in the next 3 weeks. I am asking you to help us continue fulfilling the promise we made in 2018. Donations can be made to the Asylum Program Fund and people can sign up for volunteer opportunities to assist the Castro family here via this online form.  I have already made my personal donation and I’m asking you to consider doing the same. We are, each in our own way, blessed with abundance that can be used to further our values of justice, equity and compassion, and make a life saving difference for the Castro family. 

I remain yours in faith and love,

Rev. Krista Taves.