social capital noun. the value of our social networks & relationships

Woburn Unites

Assistance for New Arrivals in Woburn Hotels - December 2024 Update

As you can imagine, this is a challenging time for the families amidst the uncertainty created by the recent election and policy changes.

Before we get into the current situation, I’d encourage you to to check out this recap of the work we were able to do with our partners at the YMCA and Boys & Girls Club to help 18 of the Haitian teens have a great summer experience.

Care packages

Vitalie Memeus, SCI Community Outreach Coordinator, continues to be in close contact with our new neighbors. They are experiencing high levels of stress, unsure of what might happen with the change of administration. Many are working now, trying to get as many hours in hopes to be in position to move into more permanent housing.

We’d like to show that there is still a community here looking to support them, and that we have empathy for their difficult situation. So we are planning to prepare holiday care packages for them to show we are thinking about them. We would like to include gift cards along with other care package items so they can get things that they need. You can donate to support these care packages via this link.

The work ahead

SCI’s new strategic plan focuses on developing emerging leaders as “Social Capital Cultivators” who develop skills to bring people together to create thriving, inclusive communities.

With this focus in mind, we are working on plans to train a group of immigrant youth and adults as peer leaders that can work with Vitalie to help newcomers access support, resources and accurate information as situations evolve. An initial step will be to work with these leaders to develop a system of mutual aid, and identify individual needs each family has. From time to time, we will be in touch with you about needs that we are looking to address. Meanwhile, you can read more about how we see the work ahead here.

Over the past three years, SCI’s immigrant outreach work was funded by a CDC vaccine equity grant that ended earlier this year. We have applied for grants and will continue fundraising to be able to continue this work.

United Methodist Church Fund Drive

The Woburn United Methodist Church has been a central space for organizing support for the Haitian immigrant families, and meeting a wide range of other community needs. They have a go fund me to raise funds to support the renovation of the church building, so that it continues to be a vital community hub as well as place of worship. Supporting this campaign is another way to help with the effort to support immigrant families and other vulnerable populations.

*** Please do not deliver any items directly to the hotels. For the privacy and safety of the families, please only deliver goods to designated drop locations at times designated. ***

Thank you so much for coming to see how you can help! As needs are changing and come up in different ways, the best way to stay in the loop is to sign up for email alerts below! We will continue to send updates for volunteer and donation needs to this email list.

Join our SERV Volunteer Group on Facebook!

Donation Needs: Sign up for alerts (above) to keep up to date on needs!

With any donations, please keep in mind that families are currently being housed in single hotel rooms, there is not much space, so there is limited capacity for things, and the things they do have need to be able to be stored in small spaces! When specific items are needed we will send out alerts with drop-off instructions via email!

As part of a large community effort, many Woburn organizations and volunteers are proud to be playing a role in providing food, clothing, and care to a small number of refugee families who are currently being housed by the state in our community. SCI, Woburn Welcomes, and the Woburn United Methodist Church have coordinated efforts by meeting with refugees to understand their needs, enlisting donations, raising money, managing volunteers, and interfacing with state and local governments.