Enabling our immigrant neighbors to find the help they need to stay in their homes and jobs locally is an opportunity Quakers might want to seize. The Annapolis Immigration Justice Network (AIJN) is doing a fabulous job of providing legal support (mostly through a team of pro-bono lawyers) and providing accompaniment to support our neighbors for their ICE check-ins in Baltimore and to connect them with resources.
Annapolis Friends have really been stepping up. Market sponsored AIJN a couple of years ago and an AFM member directed the back-to-school backpacks to us last year. Friends are helping by driving folks to check-ins (quite an education). serving as interpreters and learning to help with legal work.
Below (and two notes attached) are ways to promote the major fundraiser--"Fastest Server on the Bay" scheduled for Monday, June 14 at Sandy Point State Park. This is the second year for this. Last year it was a blast! Restaurants taking part (whose servers are part of the relay) recognize that many on their staff are immigrants who have lived in the US for years but whom they might lose given current ICE directives.
Please consider helping in any of the ways listed below--or show up that Monday and have fun and buy stuff. The legal fees and requirements of each of our immigrant neighbors are huge. We thoroughly vet their chances of success before we provide minimal financial support. But our volunteer leaders have become proficient in the laws and have made wonderful professional contacts.
The number of immigrants coming to AIJN from AA County has increased 10-fold over the year. Trust is built and need is palpable. If you can't join in the fundraiser, consider becoming a driver or think of other ways you might support.
How to help:
SPONSORSHIP
1.
Become an event sponsor for as little as $25 donation or as much as $1,000. We REALLY need cash sponsorships, and process is easy. Write a check or
donate online; just let us know. Email Kelly Price/see attached doc for more info. You can see your own or your organization or business name on a great big sign at event under one of these cleverly named sponsorship levels.
Reserve Cellar Sponsor $1,000 contribution
Top Shelf Sponsor $500 contribution
Premium Sponsor $100 contribution
Call Sponsor $25-$99 contribution
2.
Find us an event sponsor, or suggest an individual or business to us, and we will reach out. Email
kellyquinnprice@gmail.com for script and pointers.
SILENT AUCTION
3. Donate a gift card for our gift card basket. Any value accepted.
4. Donate another item, service, or talent to our silent auction . Anything is considered, even accepted, but two ideas here:
*Much of our current auction inventory shares a beach, summer, or vacation kinda theme: beach umbrellas, beach day baskets, Orioles tickets, coolers, grills, cocktail and beer packages, hotel stays, etc. Not mandatory, but a fun idea if you want to consider contributing something along these lines. If you simply want to donate a couple of beachlike items such as towels, chair, blanket, pool toys, sunblock, hat, let us know.
* Services or talents could include the loan of your kayak, boat, vacation home. Or lessons: sailing, swimming, paddleboard, cooking. A boat ride. If you are a musician or artist, donate a private performance or a custom piece of art.
VOLUNTEER
5. Volunteer on event day: set up, registration, silent auction, bartending, etc.
6. Volunteer before event day: help us run errands, organize silent auction, etc.
PROMOTE
7. Follow, share, spread, promote, communicate. The photos from the Capital are so much fun, and our Facebook event is kept current.
The success of this fundraiser will directly affect our legal fund award decisions for the rest of the summer and fall. So many new neighbors are coming to us for needed support, and our case management and legal fund teams are connecting them to pro and low bono quality consultation and formal representation as quickly as possible. Our Legal Fund team awards financial support for immigration legal fees nearly as soon as we raise the money.
