Sister Phyllis Tierney Joins Volunteer Efforts on the Border

Sister Phyllis Tierney is spending time assisting asylum seekers on the border in El Paso, Texas through the end of January.  Sister Phyllis is volunteering through the AnnunciationHouse program.  

Here are some reflections from her days assisting at the Mesa Inn Shelter 

Day 2

This is my second day. I arrived yesterday afternoon with two women from Rhode Island. They are assigned to a different site so we may not see each other again. 

 Mesa Inn is one of the sites where Annunciation House rents rooms for refugees.  The shelter has been averaging 50 plus people per day.

Anne Meyer-Wilbur is here (SSJ Associate) and is working at Mesa Inn so we are together. She is amazing and keeps going! Last night I helped in the clothing room

Anne's handiwork...i help with the sorting!

Today I was supposed to start at 2 pm but a large group arrived at noon time unexpectedly so we have been working all day. We’ve had difficulty because it takes time to wait until rooms are clean. One family moved 3 times because the shower was broken and there was a flood later. The cold water has been off in the building that I am in and maintenance has been working at it all day.
Volunteers bring in meals. Tonight it was a family that cooks and brings dinner to the shelters on a regular basis. There were about 70 people tonight with guests and volunteers.

Sister Phyllis Tierney and Father Peter discussing room reservations

Volunteers helping to sort and organize food donations

Day 3

We had another group of 40 people today but we were called ahead of time so we could prepare. They came from Guatemala and Honduras and had been in detention for several days prior to arriving. We hear that in some places people have been given little to eat. At supper we sat with a woman and her daughter from Guatemala. Her husband is in Florida. He had paid a coyote to bring her.

Day 4 and 5

Yesterday Anne and I went out for breakfast because we weren’t on until later in the day. We came back to the hotel and Anne went to the laundromat. I was looking for a free hour in my room but I told another volunteer to call if our expected group arrived before lunch. Ten minutes later a group of 60 plus arrived!  Last night we were told that 100 would arrive today. We received 50 but waited most of the afternoon for them to arrive. The day was sunny and the children played outside. We had sidewalk chalk so we had some fun with the kids! Tonight a dad and his small daughter were going to North Carolina. He had spent his time weaving a bracelet out of yarn. He gave it to me before he left. It is the small and unexpected gestures that mean so much!

Some guests wash out their clothes because there are no facilities and dry them on the bushes and by the pool!

Week 2

For several days we have had an average of fifty people a day and our schedules have been pretty similar to the first week.

I took my day off on Thursday and had the opportunity to visit the University of Texas Campus at El Paso. The architecture of all the buildings is Bhutanese and the buildings are very graceful. The campus grounds are lovely with contemplative spaces. Sara, another volunteer and I visited the Centennial Museum on the campus.in the afternoon Sister Isobel, a Daughter of Charity, took Marjorie (another volunteer) and me to Juarez so we could see the city and visit one of the families she helps. 

On  Friday, we had 70 people so we kept hopping!