The Sanctuary and Immigrant Justice Team (SIJT) expresses gratitude for all that has been contributed to UUCC’s sponsorship of Lilian Ortiz Valiente, her son Manuel, and her daughter Lakshmi, the family that fled violence in Guatemala and is seeking asylum in this country. If you would like more information about the family’s journey after they reached this country, we had the opportunity to share part of that story and also introduce the family during the Feb. 27, 2022 worship service.

So, with gratitude, here are some words of thanks:

• Thank you to Rev. Dottie Mathews for all her immigration work with the Unitarian Universalist Association and for connecting us with Lilly and her family.
• Thank you to Christine Heath who opened her home to the family for more than a year.
• Thank you to Allie Gassmann and Roger Nettleton for all their work translating and taking calls from Lilly.
• Thank you to all those who donated furniture, household goods and other things when the family moved to their own place.
• Thank you to all the drivers who provided and continue to provide transportation for the family when needed.
• Thank you to Joe and Meredith Donaldson for coordinating the transportation and to Ruth Milledge for coordinating it after Joe died.
• Thank you to Meredith for the gift of Joe’s car for Lilly.
• Thank you to Ruth and Roger for providing Lilly with driving instructions and for helping her with the driver tests, licensing, registration and insurance.
• Thank you for all the individual donations to the church for the benefit of the work of the team and for the direct gifts and donations to the family.
• Thank you to those for whom we have regrettably forgotten to recognize.
• Finally, thank you to this church community for your financial assistance through budgetary allocations and for your Faith-to-Action contributions like those collected in October.

Thank you, thank you.
Sanctuary and Immigrant Justice Team
Allie Gassmann and Dave Gibbons
Co-Chairs