children in crisis at the u.s. border - updated

5/16/2021

unaccompanied minors update; may 2021

original post; april, 2021

Dear Members and friends of USBBY,

The REFORMA Children in Crisis project has been addressing the needs of asylum seeking children arriving at the southern U.S. border since 2014 when long-time USBBY member Oralia Garza de Cortes and Lucia Gonzalez founded the group.

Several years ago, the USBBY Executive Director had the experience of traveling to the Brownsville area with several others from REFORMA and IBBY to witness the plight of these children and to deliver books in Spanish so they would have something to bring them some comfort and joy. Our visit was both enlightening and heartbreaking!

Over these years there has been an ebb and flow of activity as the arrival of children has fluctuated and as the U.S. national policy has changed. Today, the situation is dire as more refugee children arrive at our border every day to seek asylum and a better life from natural disasters and life-threatening conditions in their home countries.

They need your help! Please make a donation today!

REFORMA now faces an extreme challenge as it attempts to send books to both sides of the border for the rapidly rising number of arriving children and families.

USBBY/IBBY, along with REFORMA, is seeking donations to the IBBY/REFORMA Project so that Spanish and bilingual Spanish/English books can be purchased for the children. These books will be shipped to the various shelters, and transportation points where the children are passing through and anywhere else where children are arriving.

Donations may be in the form of money or books!

To donate funds, please visit the USBBY donation page and select IBBY/REFORMA Project from the Select Donation Fund menu.

To donate books directly, or if you are a distributor/publisher/bookstore, please email [email protected] to coordinate this option.

Each day the situation at the border for the Central American children worsens. The goal of Children in Crisis is to make this situation a little more bearable by providing books to as many children as possible.

Thanks for your past support. We hope you will help give our current asylum-seeking youth the gift of books in their home language that can provide solace and comfort in this time of crisis and fear.

Sincerely,
V. Ellis Vance, USBBY Executive Director Evelyn B. Freeman, USBBY President