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The following is an excerpt from a thank-you letter from Steve Kraemer with local non-profit Conversations with Friends. They are recent recipients of a $5,000 Tegeder Fund grant. Funds will be used to purchase backpacks, clothing and hygiene supplies for more than thirty individuals.
...Imagine you are facing deportation from the U.S., possibly facing separation from your spouse and/or children. You arrive at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling in a van from one of the three Minnesota county jails that jail ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detainees: the Freeborn (Albert Lea), Kandiyohi (Willmar) and Sherburne (Elk River) County jails. You are likely traumatized, worried, scared. It's a tremendously difficult time of your life. Before leaving, an ICE officer tells you that there's a backpack waiting for you. All of a sudden you feel some comfort, knowing that someone in the community cares about you and that you weren't abandoned. Later, you open the "Dignity" backpack and find new clothing: a pair of jeans and shoes, two shirts, underwear and socks, and about a dozen hygiene and other miscellaneous items including a toothbrush and paste, lip balm, bandaids, body lotion, deodorant, hand sanitizer, sunglasses and a water bottle, and there's a personal greeting card wishing you a safe journey and God's blessings.
On behalf of the people who will be deported, we, of Conversations with Friends (CWF), are so very grateful to you for the Father Tegeder grant. Founded in 2010, CWF (www.conversationswithfriendsMN.org) is an all-volunteer humanitarian organization whose members visit people jailed by ICE in Minnesota, write weekly letters, and provide commissary deposits, books, prayers and "Dignity" backpacks. We believe in the sanctity of families and that families should not be separated.Since the creation of the Tegeder Fund in July 2021, it has distributed 17 grants totaling $61,752 to local non-profits for projects that benefit our community. Please encourage local non-profits that you support or work with to apply for a grant. Information on how to apply or ways you can contribute are on the Tegeder Fund page.
