Good Deeds Know No Borders Lent 2021

St. Austin Catholic School parent Marjorie Clifton, grandparent Karen Clifton, and a close friend participated in a week-long service trip to the Catholic Charities Respite Center in McAllen, Texas in late April 2021. For several weeks prior, the St. Austin Catholic School Community gathered what ended up to be a U-Haul filled with much needed supplies which were used immediately to aid migrants. The three worked alongside Sr. Norma Pimentel, MJ, Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley who herself is one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world (2020) for her more than three decades of work with migrants on the Texas-Mexico border. Marjorie, her mother, and their friend worked long 12 hour days, sometimes more, assisting migrants, some new arrivals, and some who had been released from detention centers. Of her experience, Marjorie wrote:

“First, a massive thank you to everyone who brought food and supplies for our trip to the Catholic Charities Respite Center in McAllen. We filled a U-Haul trailer of supplies with your generosity! Your donations immediately went to use and are very much appreciated. It’s hard to describe the profound images and stories we experienced during our week of volunteering at the Center. But suffice it to say, it is hard to understand the border crisis until you see it with your own eyes, as in our case, until you hold a feverish baby while their young mother with tired and tearful eyes eats her first warm meal in months. This kind of volunteering is more impactful for the doer than the receiver, though the kind touches, thankful eyes and words of gratitude were abundant.

Catholic Charities is located in downtown McAllen, just steps away from the bus station, where new families line up each day by the hundreds.  Entering this re-purposed former night club, run by Sister Norma, most of the refugees experience the first safety they've felt after weeks or months of travel through dangerous and treacherous conditions, and then weeks in detention centers for processing. You can see the profound exhaustion of these little families, who are just one step away from being united with a waiting family member somewhere in the U.S. Our jobs in the Center started with greeting everyone at the door at a makeshift “pharmacy” counter where we made bottles for the babies, gave out soap and shampoo for showers and provided Tylenol to the lines of sick kids and parents. Some of the children had bites from rats and fleas that had infested the detention centers where they slept on the floor. We would then run to a makeshift storage closet where we set up bins of clothes by size, attempting to find a suitable change of clothes for each of the travelers. For most, it was the first time they had showered or changed out of their mud-covered clothes in over a month.

The Center has a massive warehouse full of donated clothes that needed sorting - to then be distributed.  Getting through to the essentials - jeans, leggings and t-shirts - takes another group of full-time volunteers. The clothing distribution would take us from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. most days, with breaks in between to help distribute meals in the cafeteria area. Warm food came in from the Salvation Army, providing three meals a day, and the kitchen would prepare sack lunches for each person to take with them as they left on flights, buses or by shuttle to their final stop. Everyone we encountered had traveled from Central American countries including Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and some also came from Ecuador, a country on the Pacific coast of South America. 

In some cases, the families had been traveling so long the kids had outgrown their clothes. In others, they didn’t even have shoes on their feet. As the day would wind down, the families would collapse for a night’s rest on exercise mats on the floor, with a thin yellow blanket provided by the Red Cross. One young mother asked me to find her another woman to sleep next to because she was traveling alone and afraid - I could only imagine what she may have been through on her journey.  It was in the few quiet moments we heard their stories. They were shared with such sadness and hope - all leaving a spouse, their parents, other children behind, and unsure when they would all be re-united. They all left their home country for reasons of survival, hoping for a better life and safety for their children - things we have never had to consider in our country. Regardless of the politics surrounding our borders, we cannot detach ourselves from the loss, fear and indescribable need that leads people to risk their lives to come here. And the most we can do some days is show compassion and seek to understand. Seeing it with your own eyes is a beautiful way to start.

The Catholic Charities Respite Center is still in need of volunteers (ideally Spanish speaking). They are also in need of the following supplies: Men (S/M) belts and children’s belt; backpacks and bags (even re-usable grocery bags); Nestle's NIDO Kinder+ baby formula; diapers; deodorant; fresh packages of t-shirts (men (S/M); women (XS/S/M); kids (age 3-5 years)); women’s leggings (yoga pants) - especially smaller sizes. Items can be shipped directly.

Catholic Charities Respite Center

111 S 15th St.

McAllen, TX 78501

If you are interested in traveling to McAllen as a volunteer or organizing a group to volunteer, please reach out to Marjorie Clifton or Karen Clifton. It was overwhelming how much there is to do. Thank you all for your caring hearts and support!”

- from Bedina O’Neill and Marjorie Clifton